


Loving Mystery

by BayleyWinchester



Series: '... Mystery' Series [3]
Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz, Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson, Heathers: The Musical - Murphy & O'Keefe
Genre: All The Ships, Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Apocalypse, Crossover, Death, High School, Multi, Suicide, mentions of hamilton
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-30
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2019-03-11 11:08:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 21,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13522986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BayleyWinchester/pseuds/BayleyWinchester
Summary: Waking up is no longer a guaranty.~~(Or: The third part in a series which follows teenagers as they struggle to survive in a world were everyone else fell asleep and never woke up)





	1. We Can Team Up

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I'm back with the next part in this series! 
> 
> Yup, I've made it a cross over with DEH and BMC. You don't need to know those musicals to read this, it'd just be a bonus. 
> 
> This is the second part and you do need to read the first story, Adoring Mystery, first. There's also Savouring Mystery which is set before this with the new characters.

“Hello?” Veronica’s voice was soft but loud as she answered her phone. 

A gasp was heard on the other end. The Heathers rushed over to her and she put it on speaker phone so they could all hear it. “Hello?”

“Who?” Veronica started, “who is this?” 

“My name is Connor, and I found your number on Twitter. We’ve been calling every day but you’ve never answered.” 

“My phone died.” 

JD interrupted, “we? How many people are with you?” 

“There’s nine of us. How many are with you?” 

“Four.” JD replied. “Where are you?” 

Connor didn’t reply but they could hear him shouting at someone off the phone, the sound muffled slightly. A few people yelled back before Connor came back, this time the phone was on speaker phone which they could tell from the sounds of other people speaking clearly. A mix of girls and boys. “Jackson, Florida. You?”

“Just south of Gainesville, Alabama. We’re stuck here cause of the snow.” 

“We were heading south, but we’ve decided to head to Mexico instead.” Connor explained. “Why don’t we come and get you?”

“So we can team up.” Another voice, male, asked sarcastically. 

Connor sighed in annoyance and replied, “I thought you love video games.”

The same voice scoffed, “they could be axe murders or something. We could let them in to our group and then we could die!”

“We won’t.” Veronica replied. “We’re just high schoolers.”

“Same.” Another voice said, this time a girl. “What are your names?”

Veronica answered her, “I’m Veronica and there’s also JD, Heather and Heather. We’re from Ohio.” 

“Two Heathers? That’s cool.” She commented, “I’m Christine. I lived in New Jersey with Jeremy, Michael, Brooke and Chloe.” Each of them said hi when she said their names. 

Connor started talking again, “We’re from Texas, Evan, Zoe, and Jared and I.” Again, each person said hello when their name was called. “I think we’re only a few hours away from you so we should be able to get to you by night tomorrow.”

“That sounds amazing.” Heather McNamara asked, speaking for the first time. 

“We’ll pack up and leave as soon as. Text me your actual address.” Connor said. Veronica agreed to and Connor hung up with the promise to call again later that night. Their moods had all been lifted slightly after the phone call; others were out there.

The four of them shared a look, JD and Veronica lingered on each other’s gazes for a little longer than normal. “Looks like we’ve finally got a break.” Veronica commented.

All of their gazes went over to Kurt’s body, which was still lying on the floor. 

“I recognize their names.” JD said suddenly. 

“What do you mean?”

He shrugged before answering. “I just recognize them. I don’t know why.” He shrugged again, smaller this time, before seeming to be deep in thought. He shook himself out of it, “I guess we should pack up as well. Let’s hope they have some food to spare.”


	2. “What could possibly go wrong?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this story officially starts!
> 
> Updates will be whenever I can, I've got other stories going + school (which I just started two days ago) so it's going to be whenever!

They decided to bury both their friends, they had the time, and using their hands would be a good way to distract themselves. It was hard work, since the ground was nearly frozen solid, but before the sun had set that night both Heather Chandler and Kurt had been buried near Ram in the garden. Heather McNamara and Duke worked on some signs with their names for the site. 

It had been a gloomy day and a worse night. JD kept the fire lit all night, trying to keep the chill out of the air, and McNamara made a meager meal for them as the sun went down. 

Veronica kept charging her phone, something of a habit now, and continued to post on as many sites as she could. Aside from Connor and his group, nothing new was there. All four of them were amazed she still had data to use. 

They hadn’t spoken much that day, everything weighing on them. They had gone and taken everything that seemed useful from the house, packing it in a few bags, there wasn’t a lot. A few more blankets and some coats. JD had found a pair of shoes in his side and a rather large first aid kit while Heather had found some red scarfs, three of them, and had given them to the other girls. All in all they didn’t have a lot of stuff and hardly any food. They all hoped that Connor and the rest had supplies. 

That night they decided to use the beds upstairs, a set of bunks and a double. It had been such a long time since they got to sleep in a bed comfortably. The few nights of rest they had before Duke, Kurt and Veronica left were not as nice as they hoped. Kurt and McNamara had taken the double bed, and JD was on the single above the rest of the girls. They would fall asleep late, and wake early. 

JD and Veronica took the main bedroom this time while the Heathers took to the bunks. They made it out like they would sleep on their own beds but everyone knew that they would be sharing the bottom bed. 

Lying in bed that night, JD and Veronica were on their sides staring at each other. “Are you okay?” JD asked softly. The room was dark, but not dark enough to not see the other’s silhouette. 

“Uh- not really.” She admitted. “You?”

“No, I’m not. Kinda wish that I didn’t wake up at in the first place.” He whispered. “Do you know what I mean? I guess, it would be a lot easier if I didn’t wake up.” 

Frowning she nodded. “It’s complicated.” She said with a light laugh. “I wish I didn’t wake up but also, I don’t want to be-” she hesitated, “-well, dead.”

“Yeah, exactly. Hopefully it all works out with these new people.” He sighed, “I swear I know those names though, Jeremy and the New Jersey lot.” 

“They're not uncommon names.”

“Yeah, but I swear I meet them. Michael and Jeremy were friends, but they fought, and then Jeremy was popular but then I left.” He shifted so he was lying on his back and staring at the ceiling. “It can’t be a coincidence that they’re together.” 

Veronica thought for a moment, “I guess you’ll find out tomorrow. Did you recognize the others? Their names at least?” 

“Yeah, I definitely know them. It was a last year. It was a huge deal when I was there, Connor tried to kill himself a few days before I arrived and then he and Evan started this huge campaign to bring awareness to depression and suicide.” 

“What about Jared?” 

“Never heard of him.” 

“At least you know some of them, hopefully it makes it a little bit less awkward.” Veronica said, “although you do give off a scary vibe, maybe they thought you were crazy.”

JD laughed, “scary vibe?”

“School shooter style.” 

“Really?”

“Long black trench coat? Check. Keeps to himself? Check. Glares all the-”

“Alright, maybe I should lighten up a little.” 

Veronica shrugged, “anyone would be a little gloomy with our lives.” She fell silent, her mind replaying the scene of Kurt killing himself. Something that would no doubt haunt her for the rest of her life. Then she thought of being stuck in the car with Ram for hours on hours and walking in to see Heather Chandler’s body lying limp on the sofa, and then her parents still on their bed. “I think we have a right to now.” 

Sensing where Veronica’s mind was he nodded, “I think we do.” As much as he didn’t like his father; he was a massive dick, it still sucked to see him dead. Something he hadn’t shared with anyone. Add onto that seeing some of the only people in the world die and you get a messed up mind. 

They lay in silence, each thinking about everything and anything. Veronica was planning for the future, what they would need to keep going south, where they could head and how they could find more people (if there were any left). JD was thinking of the past. His life on the road that hadn’t ended, but at least now he had Veronica at his side. He would gladly swap his dad for her, no problem. 

“Marry me.” 

“What?” Veronica’s voice was higher than normal. 

“You heard me.”

“I hope I didn’t hear you right, though.” 

“Marry me.” 

Veronica sighed, “I did.” 

“Yeah, say yes.”

“Why?”

“Why not.” He said, when she glared at him he continued speaking, rushing it out in a jumble that made it hard for Veronica to keep up. “It’s just that you and I are so good together and I’ve never had that, with anyone, and I feel like we were made for each. Like the entire world was just waiting for us to become a thing. Like I was meant to be yours. Like you were meant to be mine. I can’t explain it right, but, why not?” 

“I can think of a few reasons.” Veronica replied, “such as our age, the fact no one can legally marry us and that we’ve only known each other for a few weeks.”

“Does that really matter? That we’ve known each other for a few weeks?”

She sighed, “I guess not, especially not now. But still, it can’t be legal.”

Turning to look at her, he smiled. Her hair was a messy, thrown into a bun on top of her head, JD had fixed the water so they could have showers; something that was very, very, rare. Even if it was freezing cold, no one really cared. The girls were able to wash their hair, which Veronica had then spent an hour brushing, and wash the weeks of dirt of them. 

JD stared at his girlfriend, soaking her in. Her hair had grown out longer, past her shoulder blades now. It was still slightly wavy but looked limp as if it was dead and her skin was paler than before, not being in the sun for so long and having such a poor diet had taken a toll on her. Yet she still looked beautiful to him.

JD knew he looked no better, he was just as pale if not worse and his hair was a mess. He had Heather Duke cut it a few nights ago, she had done the best she could but it was still a little uneven. His clothes had gotten bigger and bigger for him over the weeks and he constantly felt slightly sick. 

“Does it have to be legal?” He finally asked. 

“What’s the point then?” 

He shrugged, “it shows that I’m yours and your mine.”

“That sounds creepy.” She said but any negativity in her voice was thrown out when she moved closer so her head was resting on his chest. “But you’re right.” 

“Do you love me?”

“Don’t ask me that.”

“Why?”

She didn’t answer straight away. “Because I don’t like confronting my feelings.” 

“You’ll have to at some point.” 

“Not if I die first.”

“Great, you’d rather die than be in love with me.” 

“Oh bite me.” 

He mockingly bit her shoulder, she groaned and swatted at his hand. He let go of her shoulder and she glared at him. “What?” He asked her, “you told me to bite you. I did as I was told.” 

“I don’t like you.”

“Excuse me? I thought you love me?”

“Do you love me?” 

“I’ve never loved anything in my life.” He said. “Maybe my mom but- but that was so long ago. Then suddenly you burst into my life and you make me happy. I don’t want to be apart, I want to be with you all the time. I'm not perfect, but I'd follow you into hell if that's what it took to keep you safe. I'll stay with you as you stay with me. So yes, Veronica Sawyer, I do love you.”

She sucked in a breath at his confession, the locked gazes and stared at each other. For how long? Neither could tell you. All they could see was the other person. Nothing else mattered in that moment. 

“Babies, they’re born with the desire to love. Humans have it, no matter how you try to hide it or if you pretend it doesn't exist. We have a desire to love, and it doesn’t always mean romantic love but when I look at you it’s like I’m reminded of that desire. In these few weeks, I’ve come to love you. So yes, Jason Dean, I do love you.”

“I love you too.”

She smiled at him and he smiled back. 

Then they heard screaming coming from the Heather’s room. One of them was having a nightmare and suddenly they were thrust back into the real world. Where they had problem after problem and never caught a break. Where they couldn’t have a few moments to declare their love for each other without being reminded of their lives. 

It sucked. 

Everything sucked. 

The whole world sucked.

They fell back into silence. Veronica had her closed and still had her head on JD’s chest. JD was simply looking down at her. 

“You okay?” Veronica asked softly.

“Yeah, why?”

“You’ve been staring at me for ages.” 

He closed his eyes and moved his head so it was facing the ceiling, “sorry.”

“It’s alright, but what’s wrong?” 

“Everything?”

She smiled at him, it wasn’t a happy smile, it was a smile that conveyed all the sad and negative thoughts she had as well. “This time tomorrow we’ll be with other people. It’s going to get better.” 

“Don’t say that, you’ll jinx it.”

“What could possibly go wrong?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot. 
> 
> Lol, poor Veronica.


	3. “So you’re not crazy?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At last, it is here!

The snow had, finally, stopped. 

Heather Duke was standing by the front door, going through everything in the bags. All morning she had been pulling a bag apart, one at a time until all the backs had been repacked. There wasn’t a lot but she was optimistic that it would last the group of four about a week, and the others should have more. She had just finished her last bag when McNamara came down the stairs. 

She nodded at her friends, her still wet hair had been tied on top of her head. The picture perfect Heather had completely gone. Veronica knew her friends, and if any of the Heathers had looked like they looked now they wouldn’t even go to school. A single hair out of place was cause for an absolute panic. Veronica and JD watched as Heather walked over to one of the bags and pulled out her makeup kit, it was a surprise, they never wore makeup now, but still she sat down and started applying it. Duke soon followed suit. 

“Has Connor said anything?” 

“Last message was early this morning, they were about six hours away six hours ago.” Veronica replied, “they should be here any minute.” 

JD sighed, “I hope they’re good people.”

“I thought you knew them?”

“Yeah, but, this situation can change people.” JD explained, “if you weren’t here I wouldn’t be the same person.” He paused, taking in a shaky breath, “I don’t know what I’d be like if I was alone.” 

Veronica was about to argue but hesitated, what would she be like if she had been alone? Or even just without her friends? She wouldn’t be the same, she wasn't even the same person now and she had been with people she liked and loved. The way she reacted to things was different, death, suicide, the threat of starvation, it didn’t faze her the way it would have. It was life now, something that happened and had to be fixed. She couldn’t think how she would have reacted to her life a few months ago. How would her past self see her now? 

“It’s a lot to think about, isn’t it?” JD asked, knowing what she was thinking.

She nodded.

They sat in the living room for about ten minutes before all leaping to their feet when they heard a car engine cutting through the usual silence. They ran outside, waving their arms above their heads so the car didn’t drive past. It had stopped snowing and the sun had actually come out, finally, so the snow that was on the ground was slowly starting to melt away or turn to sleet beneath them. 

Their car was starting to thaw out down the road, if you squinted you could just see it from where they stood. It was perfect timing for the snow to stop, it would mean they could drive away and hopefully get south as quickly as possible. 

There were two cars that stopped in front of the small house, both were people mover type vehicles that had their trunks filled with bags. The first one parked was baby blue with black stripes down the side while the second car was bright cherry red and had the ‘my family’ stickers on the back window. Apparently the previous owners had six kids and four chickens. 

Heather and Heather looked like they start crying, and Veronica probably didn’t look much better. The people from the second car got out first and rushed over to the group of four. Three boys and a girl. The first car’s doors opened after that and the rest of them got out, two guys and three girls. 

“Hey.” A guy from the first car said, “I’m Jeremy.” The groups then went around saying their own names, it only took a few moments for them to finish. 

“Do I know you?” Evan asked suddenly, pointing at JD.

“I think so.” JD replied, looking the boy up and down. Connor pulled his boyfriend closer to his side at JD’s look.

Zoe spoke, “I recognize you as well.”

“Um, same?” Brooke said and Chloe nodded in agreement. 

“Do you know all these people?” Heather Duke asked him. 

JD nodded slowly, “I think I went to their schools.” 

“Oh, that’s cool.” Michael said, “small world and all that.” 

“We should probably get going.” Connor said, looking up at the sky. It was clear and bright blue, something that was uncommon now. “We never know what the weather is going to do and I would rather be heading south before it starts snowing again.” 

Everyone agreed with him and Veronica, JD and both Heathers went inside to grab their bags. They didn’t have a lot and were able to fit it all in the second car’s trunk along with Jeremy and his groups' things. Each car had eight seats, two rows of three and one row of two at the front, along with a large trunk. Once their bags were in the trunk the Heathers asked for a moment and then ran around the back of the house.

Sensing the questions, Veronica answered them, “we lost a few friends along the way.”

“That’s horrible.” Evan said. 

“How?” 

“Christine!” Brooke and Chloe screeched, “you can’t ask that.” Chloe continued. 

Veronica shrugged, “it’s okay. Um, one of our friends got sick, one killed himself and the other just didn’t wake up. Like the others.” 

“Wait,” Jared replied, “someone died after the rest of the world?” 

“Yeah.” JD replied. “We were stuck in our car and he didn’t wake up.”

The new groups looked slightly pale and sickly looking. Brooke was the first to say something, “we didn’t know we could still die. We thought we were safe.”

Heather and Heather came back around the building then, their makeup lightly smudged and eyes slightly red. They came to a stop beside Veronica and JD who were facing the other nine kids, who stood in an uneven semi-circle. 

“So, how are we doing this?” Connor asked. 

“The four of them could come with us.” Zoes replied. 

Jared made a noise of complaint, “we’d be very squished in there.” 

“Maybe two and two?” Michael said. 

“What? Heather and Heather go with them and Veronica and JD stay with us or something?” Chloe asked. “That would probably make the most sense, five and six in each car.”

Michael looked at Veronica and JD, “you guys okay with that?”

The Heathers, Veronica and JD shared a look, both Heathers nodded and Veronica shrugged but then nodded. “Sounds good.” JD said, “but, where are we actually going? Just south? Or do you have an actual destination in mind?” 

“Just south right now.” Connor answered. “Trying to get away from this snow.” 

“Keep the radios on.” Jeremy said as Jared, Connor, Evan, Zoe and the two Heathers walked away and to the first car, the baby blue one. 

“Radios?” 

Michael grinned at them, “we took some walkie-talkies a while back. It’s way easier than just yelling out the window. We use them when we need to stop driving or if we don’t know where we are going.” 

They went over to their car, the red one, and climbed in. Veronica and JD were sitting in the middle row of seats, Brooke, Christine and Chloe were in the back and Micheal and Jeremy sat at the front, Jeremy driving. 

Within five minutes the three girls had fallen asleep in the back, Michael explained that they had driven the night shift for both cars last night. “We mix it up, like we don’t always stay with the kids we went to school with.” He continued, “sometimes we do, usually during the day, but at night it’s whoever isn’t tired is driving which ever car.”

“We try to drive as much as possible.” Jeremy said. “We only stop for food, really.” 

“Sometimes.” Michael said. “Sometimes we just eat in the cars.”

“We’re just trying to get south.” 

“And not starve to death along the way.” 

Jeremy laughed, “that to.” 

“Yeah, we were close to starving the other night.” JD replied, “we almost completely ran out of food. Don’t know what we would have done if you hadn’t called.” 

“Good thing we called.” Michael replied, “we’ve been calling every day. Don’t know why, we’d always get so upset when you didn’t answer.”

“How did you feel when I did?”

The two boys looked at each other, “honestly.” Jeremy said, “I thought it was a prank or something.” 

“You can imagine how it felt to hear my phone ringing again.” Veronica said with a small laugh. It had felt amazing, sure, but she had also just watched a friend kill himself after finding out one of her bestfriends had died. It was all becoming a bit to much and their call had been a saving grace.

“I thought I had gone crazy.” JD said. “I had no idea what was happening.”

“So you’re not crazy?” Michael asked. 

JD’s eyes widened at him and then he frowned, “uh-no?”

“God, Michael. You can’t ask that.” 

“Why?”

Veronica laughed again, “what?”

“There was a rumour about you after you left our school. Someone said that you planned on blowing up the school at one of our assemblies, you had the bombs ready to go but someone stopped you and called the police or something.” 

Jeremy sighed, “that was probably Rich, Jenna or Jake making up a stupid story to tell so they were the center of attention again. You shouldn’t have believed anything you heard at the school, they were all very creative.” 

“Where you?”

Michael and Jeremy looked at each intently, for an awkward length of time, before Jeremy sighed again and shook his head. “I was friends with the popular kids before all this happened.” He explained, “Michael was my best friend before that.”

“Oh. I’m friends with the popular kids as well, Heather and Heather and Heather plus Kurt and Ram before this. Martha was my best friend but she didn’t wake up.” Veronica said.

“There’s only two Heathers?” Michael asked.

Veronica nodded. “Heather Chandler died a few nights ago, same with Kurt and Ram.”

“I’m sorry.” He replied. 

“It’s fine.” Veronica shrugged, “a part of life now.”

“Still, it sucks.” Michael said. “But, at least it’s not just the four of you anymore.” 

Veronica and JD smiled at each and then Jeremy and Michael but it felt fake. They weren’t alone anymore but why did they feel so lonely?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They're all together now, yay!
> 
> Hope you liked it :)


	4. “Did you call each other by your last name?”

Heather was driving. Which Heather? Well, Jared was having a hard time telling the two of them apart right not. Which was Duke and which was McNamara? The blonde was Duke-No Veronica had introduced the blonde as McNamara. So Duke had the dark hair that was in a high ponytail, at she’s the one driving. The blonde with the bun (that looked so tight, Jared had to imagine it hurt to have) who was sitting in the passenger seat going through Zoe’s music.

Jared lent over to Evan, who was sitting next to him in the middle of the car, “does it look like their best friend just died?”

“You can’t say that,” his friend chided, he glanced at the girls and then back at Jared, “but, no.” 

“See, that’s what I thought. Veronica said she died but they look completely normal.”

Evan shrugged, “maybe they didn’t actually like her or something.”

“We can hear you.” Heather Duke snarled from the front seat, the boys went pale. “And for the record, we’ve become good at hiding our true feelings over the last few years. Would you like us to break down and crash the goddamn car?”

The boys looked at each, Zoe and Connor were sniggering in the back, “no.” Evan finally said. “Sorry, Heather, Heather. That wasn’t cool of us.”

Duke muttered something and was about to speak louder when McNamara smiled in the rear-view mirror. “It’s okay, Evan. Heather’s right, we got good at hiding how we feel.”

“Why?”

“Heather wanted us to.” Heather Duke answered.

Zoe joined in the conversation, “Heather?”

“Our friend who died.” McNamara nodded.

“You had another friend called Heather?” Jared asked.

McNamara nodded again. 

Jared looked slightly confused. “There were three Heathers?” 

Duke nodded this time. “Heather Duke, Heather McNamara, Heather Chandler.”

“Did you call each other by your last name?” Evan asked. 

“Why would we do that?” McNamara replied cursorily shaking her head slowly and frowning slightly at Evan using the rear view mirror. 

No one wanted to point out that must have been complicated and it would have been easier to call each other by their last names. 

Already everyone was slightly intimidated by the Heathers. They had an aura of utter confidence, even with the way the world was. They looked and sounded like every popular girl at their old school, but it was different. The other girls, it was all an act, but with the Heathers there was more. It was an act, sure, maybe they weren’t completely confident, but they seemed so comfortable in the act that it almost became real. 

“So why is Veronica your friend then?” Connor asked, “her name isn’t Heather.”

“No.” McNamara replied, “she became our friend because she was good at forging notes and handwriting. We used her to get what we wanted, hall passes, notes from parents, then it changed to prescriptions and fake forms. Whatever we needed. Along the way we became friends with her, and this was all years ago.” 

“That’s horrible.” Evan said, “how you used her like that.”

The Heathers shrugged, “she knew what she was getting into.” Duke replied. “Her choice, we didn’t force her.”

“She kind of became an honorary Heather.” McNamara explained, “we were still The Heathers, Veronica was just one of us.”

“And, the other Heather, she died.” Connor confirmed. “Veronica said three people died.”

“Yeah, Heather, Kurt and Ram.” Duke clarified. 

Connor then said: “Veronica also said one of them died like everyone else. We didn’t know that was possible. We thought we were safe from whatever happened.” 

“No, we know two people who died after that. Martha, Veronica’s old friend, and Ram, he died a few days ago.” 

“What about the others?” Evan asked.

“Kurt killed himself and Heather got sick, we don’t really know what happened to her.” McNamara replied, “I’m sure no one else will die,” she finished with a smile which was obviously fake. 

There was an awkward pause as Duke continued to drive. Jermey had radioed her shortly after they left and told her which way to go and which highway to get on, but that was twenty minutes ago and they hadn’t heard anything else. They could see the car, it was right behind them but it was still disconcerting, not being with JD and Veronica. Two people who they hadn’t been apart from for a long time. They would have rather been all squished into this car in all honesty.

Trees blurred past the car as Duke drove above the legal speed limit. There were no cameras, no police, no laws anymore so why would she go the speed limit when she could go nearly double it? Besides, the others were right behind her so they didn’t seem to have a problem with the speed she was going. 

They didn’t really speak for a few more hours, until Jeremy radioed in and told them to stop in the next town. Occasionally someone would say something to someone else but it was always quite and personal. Heather McNamara had started applying, taking off and re-applying her makeup for no real reason, but it was always red or yellow, and Zoe had asked if she could borrow some. She hadn’t put makeup on since they left home and it felt nice to feel pretty again. 

Duke got lost in her thoughts as Heather put on her makeup.

Heather Chandler, Queen Bee of Westerberg, had died. That left Duke in charge, right? She wasn’t so sure. It wasn’t McNamara, that much she did know. Veronica was a better choice than the yellow Heather but she wasn’t confident enough to do what the Queen Bee would need to do. Veronica had too much heart to be able to become to new Heather Chandler.

That left Duke, she had always been second in command when the world had been normal. It was Chandler, Duke, Veronica, McNamara. That was the order. So then, logically, it would make sense that she would be the next big shot Heather. 

She looked over at McNamara, who now wore red and gold eyeshadow and a shade of lipstick on Chandler was allowed to wear. 

No, it wasn’t McNamara next. 

It was her.

“Pass me the eyeshadow.” She commanded. McNamara didn’t hesitate and handed her friend the red platelet she had out along with makeup remover wipes. 

“What are you doing?” Connor nearly yelled when Duke started wiping her face with a wipe.

Heather didn’t reply until she had finished wiping her face, “what?”

“You can’t do that!” 

“Heather, steer for me.” Was what Duke replied, McNamara did take the wheel, she kept the car steady as Duke expertly applied smoky red eyeshadow and did her eyeliner. 

Everyone else in the car looked horrified at what was happening until they had to go around a corner and they were able to keep the car steady working together. They collectively realised that this wasn’t the first time this had happened. 

“That red doesn’t suit your skin tone.” Duke’s tone was sharp and uncaring. “Change it, you look like a cheap hooker.” 

If Heather was surprised at the way her friend spoke to her, she didn’t show it. Instead she wiped away the perfectly applied lipstick and chose a lighter shade that was closer to pink. No one else knew why Duke had said that, the lipstick looked nice on her. 

Zoe figured out why she had when Duke took the lipstick Heather had been wearing and applied that to her own lips. Zoe knew these types of girls, the popular mean ones, who only cared about themselves. 

“Our stop is just up ahead.” Jeremy said over the radio.

McNamara answered him, “thanks. See you in a moment.”

The next town, their stop, was a tiny three-shop road with a community centre that was falling apart and a rusty playground. It looked like it had been abandoned long before everyone had died. Heather parked the car in the middle of the road and Jermey came to a stop behind her, they all got out of the car and stretched their arms above their heads. The groups meet in the middle of the two cars and were looking around the tiny town.

“Your makeup looks nice Heather.” Veronica said. “Red suits you.”

“Thanks, Ronnie.” Heather blushed. “In memory of Heather.” 

“You need to change yours as well.” Duke said, her tone bitter. 

Veronica nodded slowly, looking at her friend closely. Something had changed during that drive. Something big. “Okay, Heather.” Duke nodded and for a split second looked just like Heather Chandler. Veronica could practically see the red blazer she would wear. It dawned on her what the change was, her friend was no longer just Duke. 

This was Heather Duke, Queen Bee of where ever they were, and Veronica didn’t like it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A chapter to start Heather Duke's character arc that I'm super pumped to write! 
> 
> Hope you liked it - It was a kinda boring chapter but important for a few characters!


	5. They were happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A nice long chapter for your viewing pleasure

It was the best lunch Veronica had in a long time, which was sad seeing as it was only an apple and some jerkey. They were sitting in a circle in between the two cars. JD was sitting next to Veronica who was sitting next to the Heathers, who sat next to Chloe, Brooke and Christine, and Zoe sat beside them. Connor sat beside his sister with Evan right beside him and Jared on Evan’s side, then Jeremy and Micheal.

“How did you manage to get the apples?” JD asked, “we haven’t seen fruit in months.”

“We drove past an orchard on the way back, we’re going to be having a lot of apples for the next few days.” Connor replied. 

“That’s not a problem.” JD said.

Heather Duke stood suddenly, and pulled Heather McNamara up with her. “Veronica, Heather, can I speak to you?”

Veronica followed behind the Heathers after sending a confused look at her boyfriend. As they walked away from the group the others all looked at JD. 

“No offense dude, but Heather is weird.” Michael said.

“Yeah, I know.” 

“Why were you friends with her?” Brooke asked. 

JD sighed, “I wasn’t.”

“What do you mean?” It was Zoe who asked this time.

“On the day this all started, I was at a 7/11, and they were there as well. Veronica invited me to go with them. I knew who they were, it was impossible to go to Westerburg and not know, but I didn’t actually know them.” JD explained. “We became closer because of all this, and Veronica likes them so I try to be civil.”

“That’s really cute.” Chloe said, “that you two got together during all this.”

He looked very awkward at her comment, so Connor spoke saving him, “so you haven’t met anyone else?”

“No, Veronica’s old friend survived a night. We arrived at hers a few days after this all went down, she had written a note so we knew she had survived but Veronica found her dead.” 

“That sucks.” Christine said. “We haven’t seen anyone.”

“We didn’t even know that you could still die.” Evan said, “that’s really scary.”

They were quite for a few moments, lost in their own thoughts and eating their food. Veronica, Heather and Heather hadn’t come back but they could see them. They were standing down the road, far enough away that they couldn’t hear them. Veronica was re doing her makeup, that much JD could tell. Duke looked angry and McNamara looked almost submissive, standing beside the other Heather.

“What are they talking about?” Jared asked suddenly.

“No idea.” JD replied.

“Shouldn’t you know?” He continued.

“Why?” JD asked. 

Jared hesiated, “they look like they’re fighting.”

“I’m sure they are. That’s what they do.”

Connor and Evan looked at each other, “why?”

Chloe and Brooke scoffed, “‘cause that’s what happens when you’re popular.” Chloe answered. “No surprise there.”

“Why do popular kids fight so much?” Christine asked.

“It wasn’t the guys.” Jeremy said, “it was just the girls.” Then he looked at the girls and said, “no offence.” 

They girls in question shrugged, “we fought.” They said at the same time before grinning at each other and saying “jinxs!” Jermey and Michael groaned to themselves, they girls always did this. 

“So Heather and Veronica fought a lot?” Zoe asked. 

“Heather used to fight with Heather a lot. Heather usually stayed out of it unless another Heather dragged her into it. Veronica ignored them.” 

Everyone looked at each, “um, that doesn’t clear up anything.” Connor finally said. 

JD smirked, “I know. Heather Chandler used to fight with Heather Duke a lot. Heather McNamara usually stayed out of it unless another Heather dragged her into it. Veronica would just ignore them.”

“That makes a bit of sense.” Evan said, “but why did they fight?” 

“No idea.”

“Probably boys, parties, looks, followers and control.” Chloe said. “That’s what we would fight over.”

Brooke nodded, “Jenna stopped talking to me for a week because I had more twitter followers than her. She hated that.”

“Did she start talking to you again?” Jared asked. 

“Oh yeah, when she had more followers.” 

“Being a girl sounds like a lot of hard work.” Michael said.

The four girls that were there looked at each other. Brooke and Chloe nodded, Christine shook her head, “we weren’t so intense.”

Zoe shrugged, “my friends weren’t like that until the Connor project happened.”

Michael clapped loudly, “I knew I recognized you! We watched one of your videos in our health class. Remember Jeremy?”

“Oh yeah. The Connor project was like anti-suicide, right?” 

Connor and Evan nodded, Evan looked happier than Connor that these kids had watched their videos. Connor looked slightly embarrassed. “We started it earlier this year.” Connor said. “We didn’t expect it to get so big.”

“I’m glad it did.” Evan said, “a lot of people sent us emails saying how much it meant to them.” 

“Yeah, that was pretty cool.” Connor said, his mood lifting slightly, he wrapped his arm around Evan’s shoulders and pulled him into his side. Evan smiled up at him from where he was tucked into Connor’s side. “We got a lot of emails.” Connor finished. 

Veronica and the Heathers walked back to them after he spoke, Heather McNamara looked upset, Duke looked pissed and Veronica looked annoyed. JD was about to ask what happened but Veronica shook her head and mouthed ‘later’. The girls sat in their original places, in between JD and Chloe. He handed them their food again. 

Heather McNamara and Veronica finished theirs quickly but Duke sat there poking at it, her two friends locked eyes, worry filled both sets of eyes. Veronica spoke up, “Heather? Why aren’t you eating?”

“I’m not hungry.” 

“Are you sure?” McNamara asked. 

Duke rolled her eyes and growled out, “God, Heather, leave me alone.” 

“Sorry, Heather.” 

“So, next step?” Connor asked looking around. No one said anything in reply and he sighed. “I guess it’s just driving as far as we can. We should try and find a motel in a few hours to stop for the night, go over everything we have before we keep driving.”

Everyone agreed and packed up, there was a public bathroom beside the playground that they all used before heading to the cars. It was the same arrangement of who was in what car, Veronica felt bad about leaving McNamara alone, but she still got in the car with JD and the others. Once the first car had driven off Jermey followed. 

“What did you talk to the Heathers about?” JD asked quietly, they were sitting in the very back of the car, so if they spoke softly no one could hear them.

She sighed, “Duke doesn’t think we should stay with these people.” 

“Why?” 

“She’s always been intimidated by new kids. She always thinks they’re going to take her place. She’s terrified of the new girls being better than her.” 

“So she’d rather the four of us leave?”

“She’d rather the three of us leave.” Veronica sighed again, “I thought she was okay. We had a talk about our relationship before Heather died and she was supportive of it but she’s changed her mind again, she doesn’t want me to be dating a social outcast.”

JD scoffed and rolled his eyes. Heather Duke was a piece of work in his mind. “How can I be a social outcast if there’s no society to be outed from?” 

Veronica shrugged, “she’s not in her right state of mind.”

“Something happened at lunch, when she didn’t eat.”

“Yeah, before all this, Heather had really bad eating habits. Bulimia mostly, sometimes she wouldn’t eat until she was about to pass out. She was so scared of becoming overweight and being kicked out of the Heathers.” Veronica paused, “after this happened, she started eating again. Heather, Heather and I thought she was getting better but now.”

“She’s back to being a Heather. Not just Heather.”

Veronica nodded sadly, “so she won’t eat.”

“And she wants you and Heather to be perfect again.” 

“Yup.” 

“The makeup, that’s got something to do with it, right?”

Sighing again, Veronica nodded, “before Heather died we all agreed that if one of us were to die we would wear their colour makeup for a while. Heather has made her’s the brightest red, the kind of red Heather would have worn.” 

“So is she trying to make herself the new Heather Chandler?”

“I think so.” 

“That sucks. Do we need to stop her?”

She shrugged, “how?”

“Murder?” JD suggested. 

“JD!” She said and hit his shoulder lightly. “What the hell? No we are not killing one of my best friends, thank you. Honestly.”

“I was joking, darling, calm down.” He replied with a laugh, “anyway, it’s not like it’s illegal any more.” He winked at her and then laughed again at her appalled expression, “just a joke. I’m not going to kill anyone.” 

They didn’t talk for a while, everyone in the car was happy to look out the windows quietly and just watch the scenery fly by. It was fun driving so fast, way past the speed limit, it made the world look streaky and blurly. Trees raced past, colours mixing together, with the occasional lamp post or electricity pole. Every once and a while a house would come into sight and disappear just as fast. 

Jeremy drove them through a few towns, although most were just one road places with buildings that were falling apart and dirty looking. They also past a few cars on the side of the road, no one looked in the windows of those cars, they knew what was in there and they didn’t want to see it.

As the sun was beginning set Jermey used the walkie talkie to tell the other car to stop at the next town they found. They would find somewhere to sleep over night. Usually they would drive all night but they needed to go over their inventory and add Veronica’s. 

There wasn’t a hotel or a motel at the new town, but there was a camping site with cabins, it was just off the main road and JD was able to pick the lock to the main office with ease. 

“We can either all go in the same room or spilt up. There’s one room with enough beds if we squish.” JD said, he was standing behind the desk looking at a book on the counter. 

“May as well stay together.” Chloe said. 

No one argued so JD reached down the key to cabin 2, Jermey and Michael jumped in the driver seats of both cars while everyone else walked the short distance to the cabin, it was probably about two minutes from the office to the cabin, the communal kitchen was in the middle of that walk. 

The cabin wasn’t very exciting. It was a small rectangle, small enough that it got very, very, crowded when everyone was standing. The two long walls has two sets on bunk beds, each with a double bed on the bottom. The room also held a table and four chairs. 

“It’ll do.” Connor said. 

JD and Veronica took one of the double beds, Evan and Connor took the other while the Heathers took the third which left four singles and a double for seven people. Chloe sighed and set her bag down and told Brooke and Christine to as well. Zoe, Jared, Jermey and Michael all took the top bed.

“It’s a squish.” Christine said, “but it’ll be fine.”

The next thing they did was bring all of the bags into the room, the table in the centre of the room and two of the double beds were filled with their bags. No one complained at the lack of space, it meant more resources. 

Christine and Chloe went to the office to get the key to the cabin next door so they could take some pillows, blankets and chairs. Connor and Evan went to the kitchen at the campsite to see if there was anything worth stealing. Jeremy and Michael went to the small shop beside the office. Everyone else started going through their things. 

“You’ve been oddly quiet.” Chloe said to Christine as they walked. 

“I’ve been preoccupied.”

“You can tell me. I’d hate to keep something to myself nowadays.”

“You’re lucky you’ve got Brooke.”

Chloe nodded, “and you’ve got us. I mean it, Christine, I don’t want you to be fretting by yourself anymore. We have enough stress in our lives, no point creating more. Besides, stress causes wrinkles.” 

“Just, what Veronica said about their friends dying after all this happened freaked me out. I don’t want to die. I thought I’d be okay now, safer. Turns out we’re not.”

“I get it, it freaked me out as well.” Chloe said, “Brooke as well.”

“You guys look so put together though.”

She shrugged, “we’re not. Aren’t you an actress?” 

The pair smiled at each other and they reached the office building, it was still unlocked so they didn’t spend much time in there. When they walked out they saw Jeremy and Michael breaking into the shop. 

“I mean it, Christine.” Chloe said as they approached the next cabin. “You have us.” She wrapped her arms around Christine and squeezed her into a hug. Christine hugged her back just as hard, it felt nice to have someone who cared. The let go of each other and walked into the cabin. 

Michael kicked a can that was on the floor. “What do you think of the new kids?” 

“They seem nice.” Jermey said as he placed the three cans of soup in his bag. “Not to crazy.”

“Yet.”

They laughed together and continued their shop, they were picking up anything that hadn’t expired. So far they had a few cans of soup, some tinned fruit salad and some packets of dried fruit. Jermey was packing tins of tuna he found into his bag while Michael stuffed the chocolate in his. 

“Hopefully it all works out.” Michael said, “I was listening in the car and that Heather Duke seems like a piece of work.”

“I’m sure it’s not as bad as it seems.”

“Yeah, hopefully.” He picked up some more candies, Jermey saw and rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything. “There’s a kitchen here, which means we should have some nice warm food.”

“That sounds good.” Jermey said, “I heard Brooke saying something about cooking the apple so it lasts longer or something.” 

“How does Brooke know how to dry fruit?” 

Jermey laughed at the question, “no idea. We’re just lucky she does.” 

They were quite as they continued around the shop, in the end they had two backpacks filled with food and one filled with candy and chocolate. It was the most they had gotten in a while but still with thirteen kids to feed, it wouldn’t last long. Both boys were thinking that when the left the, now ransacked, shop.

“It’s better if we’re a bigger group.” Jeremy said suddenly.

“What?”

“Thirteen is better than nine. Like, sure, we’re going to need more food and clothes and stuff but it’s still better. Especially now, we need all the people we can get.” He spoke fast, something he did when he was nervous. 

“Dude, chill.” Michael said, resting his hand on his shoulder, “it’s all good. We’re going to be fine. Apocalypse of the damned prepared us well.” 

Both boys laughed loudly, “apocalypse of the damned, level 10, the empty world.” Jermey said. “It’s perfect.” 

“And everyone told us video games would get us nowhere in life.”

“Boy, were they wrong.” Jermey smirked. The pair laughed again and walked into their cabin, proudly showing off their bags.

In the kitchen there was nothing, a few moldy bags of food in the fridge and some clean dishes on the side. Connor and Evan had searched the entire place to find nothing. Now, Evan was sat on the bench and had Connor standing between his legs. Their arms were wrapped around each other and Evan was resting his head on Connor’s.

“I like being taller than you.” 

Connor scoffed, “you could never.”

“I am, right now.” Evan took his head off Connor’s and looked down at him.

“Sitting on a bench doesn't count, tree boy.”

“Don’t call me that,” Evan huffed. 

“But you are.” Connor smiled up at his boyfriend. 

Evan sighed and placed his head back on Connor’s, “tree boy is a ridiculous name. Just because I like trees, that’s stupid.”

“No, it’s cute. Just like you.”

“You’re cute.”

“Don’t call me cute, Evan.”

“Don’t call me tree boy, Connor.” 

“Touche.”

Evan laughed and hugged his boyfriend closer. “I’m really glad you survived this with me. I don’t know how I would cope without you here.”

“Luckily I am here then and don’t worry, I have no plans to leave you alone. I promised you that, and I’m not going back on my promises. Zoe would kill me.” 

“She would. So would I.” 

“I know, which is why I’m not leaving you, Evan, look at me, I promise you that I am not going anywhere anytime soon. You couldn’t cope without me, I’m to awesome.” He winked at his boyfriend causing him to laugh and nod. “Evan, I swear, I’ll be there for you. You’ll be sick of me.” 

“Never.”

“We’re gonna spend so much time together you’ll want rid of me.”

He shook his head, “don’t be ridiculous Connor.” With that he jumped off the bench and took Connor’s hand. “We should head back.” 

That night was one of the more peaceful nights they had. Chloe and Brooke made some soup for them all, and eating out of actual bowls at an actual table was nice for a change. It was just a good night, everyone’s spirits were high and everyone was having a good time. They ended up playing some stupid party games like truth or dare and never have I ever. 

When it got dark they all fell into their beds to go to sleep, happy with the day they had and content to live with everyone else in the room. It was like they were already a family or something. Veronica and JD were cuddled up together, as were Evan and Connor. The three girls were squished in but happy.

They were happy. Too bad not everyone would wake up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...


	6. The cursive lettering seemed to laugh

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, I kind of just didn't write? 
> 
> Anyway, it's short but it's the next morning :'(

The next day was silent. No one spoke at breakfast, even though they were able to toast some pop tarts, something that should have been cause for celebration. Everyone sat in small groups, looking uneasy. 

They had gone to the kitchen after everything had happened, Veronica had started making breakfast for them all while some of the boys dug a grave.

Breakfast was simple but still better than they were used to. An apple each and some pop tarts they had found the night before. It was supposed to be a good morning, they were relatively happy and had food, good food, not cans of bland soup. Fresh fruit and sugary snacks. But then they had woken up and the mood had gone down hill instantly. No one felt happy anymore. 

The somber silence filled the small dining area the campsite had outside. Veronica filled everyone’s plates while the boys made there way back to the kitchen area. 

After breakfast was finished they went down to the grave dug, Connor was already there with the body wrapped up in sheets from the cabin next door. His eyes were red. No one had dry eyes that morning. 

Heather McNamara walked over to them with the sign she had made, it was a simple cross with the name engraved on it, JD had helped her make it with the tools they found in a shed. It wasn’t much but it was enough. 

The body was lowered into the ground, they all filled the hole with dirt and then the cross was stuck in the ground at the top of the makeshift grave. The cursive lettering seemed to laugh at them as they stood in a semicircle. 

_ Christine Caniglia _

“She had told me last night,” Chloe said, “that she was afraid of dying. I told her she didn’t need to be, that we were together and that was okay.” Chloe laughed bitterly, “I told her it was okay and then she died.”

“I’ve never meet anyone like Christine,” Jermey said. 

“A once in a lifetime kind of girl.” Connor agreed. 

“We meet at drama club, long before this, and she told me all about her love of theatre, it was like she was singing. Drama was her passion, it meant more to her than anything. She got so good at hiding her true feelings it was hard to know what she was thinking. Unless she was happy, then she couldn’t keep it off her face.” Jermey said, laying his hand on the cross. “She was so kind and good. She didn’t deserve this.” 

Michael laid his hand on Jeremy's shoulder, “she’ll be happy now. Up there performing with Shakespeare.” 

Chloe and Brooke were holding hands now, “performing to millions.” Brooke agreed. “She told me her biggest dream was to perform to the world, I told her we are the world, so she could perform to us.

“She’s probably watching us now, and complaining we’re being too dramatic.” Zoe said.

“Keep the dramatics for the stage.” Jared recited, “that’s what she would say to me if I got to annoying.” 

Evan let out a sad laugh, “she told me that as well.” 

“We should get going.” Michael said, straightening up and wiping his eyes. “Before it gets to late in the day.”

“I don’t want to leave her.” Chloe whispered.  “She was so scared of being alone.”

They turned and walked away, leaving the four of them from Christine’s school alone for a moment before the to turned and walked back to the cabin. 

Jermey took one last look over his shoulder as they drove out of the cabin ground. The cross was just visible but disappeared as the car turned. Jermey looked down at his lap as they drove away, leaving her alone.

_ Christine Caniglia _

~~

JD and Veronica were the only ones awake in the car. Jermey, Michael, Chloe and Brooke were asleep in the back two rows of the car. The sun had set hours ago. The day had been an awkward car ride, no one spoke for the entire day. Veronica couldn’t help but wonder what it was like in the other car, were they as silent as them?

“Are you okay?” JD asked Veronica. 

“Yeah, I’m fine. You?”

He nodded, “it sucks and is sad, but like, I didn’t know her all that well.”

“I know what you mean.” She looked back at the others, “I hope they’ll be okay.” 

“They have you and the Heathers, you three have lost enough friends now to classify as experts.” He said, a small on his face. Her face was horrified, he sighed, “I didn’t mean it, Veronica.” 

She took a deep breath, “sometimes, the way you react to things makes me scared.” 

“What do you mean?” He said in shock but Veronica could hear underlying anger as well. Something she didn’t want to deal with, she didn’t answer him fast enough so he looked over at her and repeated the question.

“You’re always so emotionless.” She admitted. “It freaks me out.” 

Scoffing he said, “so because I don’t show my emotions I’m the freak.” 

“I never said that.” Veronica replied, slightly offended but also pissed that he wasn’t listening to her. “I said you scare me sometimes.” 

“That’s what you meant.” 

“No it’s not! Don’t tell me what I meant.” 

He was about to speak when he stopped himself and took a deep breath, “okay. Sorry.” He said it but his voice had no spark, it was painfully obvious he didn’t mean it. 

She didn’t mean it either, “sorry as well.” 

There was another awkward silence in the car after that. It was only broken when JD slowed down a stop sign and cursed, prompting Veronica to laugh. He joined in when he saw the car behind them slow down as well. 

It was still silent in the car but it was less awkward and more relaxing, JD and Veronica ended up holding hands in the middle of the van and soon after that Veronica fell asleep as well. 

When she woke up, the sun was rising over the horizon, JD was still driving and everyone else in the car was still asleep. “Connor wants to stop around eight for breakfast.” He said when he saw she was awake.

“Sounds good.” She said with a yawn. “What time is it?” 

“Just gone seven.” He replied. She nodded and looked at the car behind them, Jared had been driving last night and they had swapped at some point, as Connor was now in the driver's seat. “We stopped last night, everyone was exhausted, I think we stopped for about two hours.”

“You should have woken me, I would have taken over.” 

He shook his head, “I’m fine. You needed to sleep.” 

“I didn’t.” She said, trying not yawn.

“Sure.” He smiled at her. 

“Okay, maybe I did. But after breakfast, you’re sleeping.” 

“Veronica, I’m used to running on a few hours of sleep, before this.”

She shrugged, “I don’t care, you’re sleeping.” 

“Alright, I’ll sleep after breakfast.” 

Just then Connor radioed in, “there’s a park about five miles from here, we should stop there. It’ll have bathrooms and hopefully some benches or something.” 

“Cool,” Veronica said, “we’ll see you there.” 


	7. A lot could go wrong in a very, very, short span of time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey,  
> how are you?  
> that's good  
> I'm back!  
> Plus I'm a year older now so that's cool...   
> Enjoy!

“I don’t know how you’re not happy.” Chloe barked, “this is the best news we’ve gotten.”

Brooke nodded, “we’ll be safe there.” 

“I’m with JD on this one, we don’t know what’re getting ourselves into here.” Connor said.

“Thanks,” JD replied, “it’s a dangerous idea, just running to the next people.”

Chloe scoffed, “is that not what you did when you came with us?”

JD was stunned at her question, that was true, he and the others had agreed to join in with the others, even though he didn’t trust people. He didn’t trust people before, and now it was even harder. But that was different, he thought, but then, it wasn’t. He sighed before holding his hands up in surrender. “Okay, I guess we’re going to LA.”

“Um, what?” Veronica said as she and the Heathers walked in. They had just been on a ‘mission’ as Jared called it to try and find food in the town they had stopped at for dinner. They, luckily, didn’t arrive empty handed, each girl had a plastic bag filled with food. 

“There was a tweet sent out, I was checking the different keywords, ya know?” Brooke said but continued before she could answer, “and there was a new tweet! Some people have set up a centre for anyone who’s alive, there’s more of us!” 

The three girls looked at each other disbelief. “Really?” McNamara asked. 

“Yup, we’ve decided to go there.” Zoe said. 

“Good plan.” Veronica replied. Chloe threw a dirty look at JD who glared back. 

After that Veronica and the Heathers used the food they had found to make some dinner for everyone, they had found a plum tree in the front of a random person’s house that the weather hadn’t affected. They had taken all the plums. Plus they had found a small corner store that had some ramen noodles and cans of tuna left. 

Everyone was sitting in a circle eating their noodles and tuna with a big map of the country between them. Connor had a vivid marker and was going through the different routes they could take to get to LA.

“Maps are hard.” Brooke whined. “Why can’t we use google maps?”

“We’re trying not to waste our battery or 4G.” JD replied. 

“Theres 12 phones between us, we can use one for google maps.” Chloe complained. 

Veronica rolled her eyes but Duke replied first, “I agree with Brooke, can’t we use a phone.”

“My names Chloe.” Chloe said, her tone confused yet angry. 

Heather Duke hummed but didn’t correct herself or say sorry. 

“Look, we can’t waste our battery or our 4G on something that we can use a map for. Connor is doing a good job with it, and anyway, it doesn’t matter to you, you’re not doing anything.” JD replied. “So just let him do what he needs to.” Chloe was about to reply when JD looked at her and almost growled, “shut up Chloe.”

She fell silent. Connor, with the help of Evan, managed to find the quickest route from where they were and showed everyone the map. The first car would be the ones with the map and the people in the second would just follow. 

Everything was looking up. They had two cars. Enough food to last to California if they were careful, a route, and people. It was going to be okay.

“It’s going to be fine.” Veronica grinned at JD.

He grinned back, “don’t say that. You’ll jinx it.”

“What could go wrong?” 

~~

A lot. 

A lot could go wrong in a very, very, short span of time. 

It hadn’t even been an hour and it seemed like everything had gone wrong. It had started straight away. Suddenly the sky was cloudy and it started pouring with rain. Connor acted as quickly as he could but the map was soaked by the time he was able to get it folded and put away. The others scrambled to put away all their things before they got wet. By the time they were sitting in the car their clothes were sticking to their skin and their makeup was running down their faces. 

Connor and Evan were sitting in the front of their car with the map in between them, trying to dry it out as best they could. They could just make out the faint line that Connor had marked. Evan started holding the map over the heater vents, trying to get it dried faster. 

The rain poured down on the cars. It was so loud that it was hard to hear the person next to you and they couldn’t see more than a few feet from the car. Connor radioed to the other car. “Should we just go to California now then?” 

“Yup, I think so.” Veronica replied. 

“Ready to go then?” Connor asked. 

She nodded as she replied, “let’s do it.” 

They drove for a while, it was getting dark, and the rain hadn’t let up, when Connor’s car made a strange groaning noise. JD and Veronica paled as they watched the smoke billow up from the other car’s bonnet. Connor swore loudly causing Jared and Heather McNamara to wake up with a start. Only a few moments later the car slowed down and stopped in the middle of the road. 

Heather McNamara reached into the trunk of the car and, luckily, found a large umbrella. She handed it to Connor who was getting out of the car. JD also rushed over to them and stood under the umbrella with Connor. 

“I don’t know much about cars.” Connor admitted, speaking louder than normal because of the rain. 

“Neither. If this was a bike, maybe.” 

“What do we do?” 

JD shrugged slightly. “We can’t do anything in this rain.” After he spoke the rain got even heavier and lightning flashed across the sky, then thunder boomed loudly. “I guess we should just wait it out?” 

“Like sleep in the car for the night?” 

“Yeah.” 

Connor sighed but nodded, “sounds like the best option. We’ll figure it out tomorrow.” 

“We’ll park up right beside you.” JD said, “let’s try and sleep for the night.” 

Each boy went back to their own car and explained the plan for the night. JD restarted his car and drove up to Connor’s. He was able to park the car close enough that his wing mirror was touching the other car while closed. 

Zoe rummaged around the trunk and proceeded to bring out a tarp they had taken a while back. She, Jared, and Heather McNamara got out of the car, with the umbrella, and attached the tarp across the two cars. When they were down both cars were covered with the tarp which meant they could roll down the windows in the middle of the cars and talk to each other. 

“Good idea, Zoe.” Connor said. 

“Thanks.” She smiled at him. Their relationship may have been rocky but since his suicide attempt and their parents death it had been growing stronger and stronger.

Brooke and Chloe made them dinner, more plums and some dried fruit and nuts. It wasn’t a lot but then they got out the small camping stove and made everyone a cup of ho cocoa with no milk but plenty of sugar and chocolate. That lifted everyone’s spirits. 

After dinner they all tried to get comfortable in the small space. They were also trying to stay warm Connor and Evan and Veronica and JD were basically on top of each other. The Heathers and then Brooke and Chloe we cuddled up against each other, as were Jeremy and Michael. Even Jared and Zoe were closer than normal just so they weren’t so cold. 

Veronica, JD and the Heathers were almost used to it. They had done this before. Being stuck in a freezing cold car wasn’t that bad. At least there wasn’t a dead body in this one. The others however where finding it hard not having the heater going as they slept. 

“We’ll be in California soon.” Connor whispered to Evan after everyone was a sleep. “Stop worrying.”

“I’m not worried.”

Connor chuckled slightly, “yeah you are. It’s going to be fine.”

“Yeah.” Evan said but he didn’t sound to sure, “we’ll be in California soon.”


	8. time for a new Heather to take her place

When everyone woke the next morning the rain had died down. It hadn’t completely stopped but it was light enough that JD and Connor were able to get out and look over the engine. The others stayed in the car and watched on. 

After about half an hour they both got back into their cars with a sad sigh. JD shook his head, “I don’t know that much about cars.” He kept his voice loud enough so the other car could hear him as well. 

“So what do we do?” Brooke asked. 

“We have this car, which can fit eight, I guess it could fit more if people sat on each others laps and squished.” Veronica said. “Could we make the journey in one car?” 

Everyone thought about it for a moment, “I mean, maybe.” Connor replied. 

“If we really squished, and we’d have to get rid of some of our stuff.” Evan continued. “It wouldn’t all fit in one car.” 

“Let’s get sorting then.” Zoe said, everyone was passed bags from the trunk and was told to get rid of anything they didn’t need. They needed to leave behind over half of it. Each person was allowed one tote bag of personal belongings and clothes. McNamara showed everyone how to roll their clothing very small so they could fit more.

Heather Duke was the biggest issue they faced. She had decided to not help them but instead fight with Jared who was sorting out her bag. “I need that.” 

“No you don’t.” Jared replied, “you’re bag is already full.”

“Well, I want another bag.”

“You can only have one bag.” Veronica said, rolling up another skirt. JD was amazed at how much she was able to get in the small bag. 

“Why? It’s not my fault they chose a car that would break.” 

McNamara chimed in, “Heather, it’s not fear on on everyone else.”

“Shut up Heather.”

“Sorry Heather.” 

Veronica galred at Duke as McNamara shrunk into her seat. It had taken the apocalypse for that girl to come out of her shell and Veronica would be damned if she let McNamara become her former self. Duke was being a mega-bitch again, and Veronica didn’t care for it. 

“Heather is right Heather.” Veronica said. “You can’t have more than one bag.” 

“Heather doesn’t know what she’s on.” Duke replied. 

“And you don’t know how much of a bitch you’re being right now. What the hell, Heather? Snap out of it.”

Duke rolled her eyes and pulled out Chandler’s red scrunchie she had taken after she died, “get with it, Veronica. Heather is dead, time for a new Heather to take her place, and it’s not going to be Heather.”

“Replace, Heather Chandler?” Veronica replied in disbelief. She could almost hear Heather Chandler yelling at her to drop the scrunchie. 

“Please, you need to worry less about me, and more about you.” 

“What do you mean?” JD stepped in, anger all over his face. 

If Heather Duke was scared by Veronica’s boyfriend she didn’t show it. “Look at the state of you, Veronica, you’re a mess. That blazer’s blue doesn’t even match the grey in your shoes.” 

“Well sorry if I don’t have all the options I used to. We only have a bag. Besides, that red scrunchie clashes with the entire outfit.”

“I’ll just have to change the entire outfit then.” 

Heather McNamara looked appalled, she had no idea what to do, Duke wasn’t like this. She spoke up, “why do we need another Heather when there is no one around? Can’t we just be ourselves now?”

“Shut up, Heather. You don’t know anything.”

“Sorry, Heather.”

“No, don’t say sorry. That was always Heather’s thing, wasn’t it?” Veronica mocked. 

Duke looked furius as she glared at Veronica, “well then, McNamara must be second in command then. That leaves you at the bottom, again.” 

“You were never second in command, Heather didn’t even like you!” Veronica snapped. 

“Yes she did!” 

“No, the only reason she hung out with you was because your name was Heather and you knew how to act. She didn’t like you.” 

There was silence in the car as Duke thought over what Veronica had said to her. Finally, a few minutes later, she opened her car door and got out. Walking into the rain. McNamara lent over and closed her car door and Veronica got back to rolling her skirts. 

~~

The sky was darkening even more, Veronica could only guess that meant the sun was setting behind the black clouds. The rain was only a drizzle now but the threat of more was hanging in the air. 

JD had moved the working car so that it wasn’t as close to the broken one, when they had attached the tarp it meant they could open the car doors or be in the middle space which made it a lot easier to work together. 

Veronica and Zoe were sitting together outside the two cars and under the tarp going through some of the last bags. Everything they weren’t taking was being put in the broken car while what they were taking went into the working one. 

All of the food as coming. As well as the majority of the tools they had collected. Then there were twelve tote bags, one for each person. The trunk was already almost full so Veronica and Zoe were throwing most things away. They were hoping that if the trunk wasn’t to full some one could sit in it. 

“Last bag.” Zoe said opening it up. 

Before she started, Veronica looked down the road. Duke still hadn’t turned up and Veronica was getting worried. It wasn’t like Duke to disappear like this.

“Worried about Heather?” Zoe asked. 

“Yeah.” Veronica nodded.

“I’m sure she’ll be back soon.” 

The girls then stopped talking and finished organizing. In the end they filled the trunk up almost completely but Zoe volunteered to sit in there. They tried it, to see if she could fit, and she could, so it was agreed she would sit there. It was also decided that the two rows of three would be filled with four people, while two people sat on the passenger seat. The driver would be alone. 

Brooke, Chloe and the Heathers would sit on the back seats, Connor, Evan, Micheal, and Jared, would be in the middle. Jeremy was driving while Veronica and JD sat in the passenger seat. 

“I guess we should wait here for the night.” Jermey said. “No point driving when it’s so dark.”

“One last night of comfort.” Micheal agreed. 

“Hardly comfortable.” Brooke muttered.

“It’ll be better than one car.” Chloe replied. 

They were all sitting in little groups eating some food, soup, and Chloe had even warmed it up for them. JD and Veronica were sitting in the front of the unbroken car, keeping an eye out for Duke.

JD looked over at Veronica, who was fiddling with her spoon in the bowl. “You know what I would kill for right now?” He asked. 

“What?”

“A slushie from 7/11.”

She laughed, “why?”

“They were so nice,” he shrugged, “I drank so many of them. Probably because it was one of the only places I could go to across the country and it was the same. It was the only home I ever had.” He paused, “that sounds stupid.”

“No, I get it.”

“You’re worried about Heather.”

“Yeah, she should be back already.” 

He rubbed her shoulder, “it’ll be fine. Heather isn’t stupid, she knows she can’t survive without her things. She’ll be back.” 

“I guess. I just hate fighting with her, we used to, but we haven’t in so long. I thought they were getting better. She was eating again, and they were both being themselves. I don’t want them to revert back to being Heather and Heather.” Veronica explained.

“How do you know they were being themselves?” 

“We didn’t have to act in private. When we were together, just the four of us, we could be as dorky and stupid as we wanted. They were starting to be like that again.” 

They sat quietly for a while, the sky was completely dark now. Not normal night time darkness, complete and utter black. There wasn’t a star in the sky, which was strange to them now. Ever since the power shut off the sky at night was amazing. Stars were visible across the entire sky, thanks to no more light pollution. 

After a while everyone got ready for bed. Veronica and JD stayed where they were, Heather and Zoe lay down in the backseat, Jeremy and Michael in the middle. In the other car, Brooke and Chloe took up the middle seat, Connor and Evan were spooning in the back while Jared was in the front. It wasn’t comfortable, it never was, but they all knew it was going to be a whole lot better than what was coming next.


	9. it was over within five minutes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Suicide TW: All the italics are very sensitive and talk about suicidal thoughts, attempted suicide, and death overall. You do not have to read that part if you don't want to! It's a flashback and doesn't further the plot so you're okay (it's just for character development)!

They were making progress. Slow progress, but progress nonetheless. 

Duke had returned at some point during the night. Everyone had woken up to find her leaning against McNamara in the back seat. Once everyone was awake, aside from McNamara who was dead to the world, they started the journey to california in the one car.

Jeremy was the only one who was comfortable, everyone else was squished up against one another. Even JD and Veronica were sick of being on each other. Only a few more days to go. 

The sun was already in the middle of the sky, and it was almost peaceful. The windows were rolled down and they had music blasting. If they weren’t so squished it would be almost nice. 

Brooke and Chloe were playing a card game together, Duke had a book on her lap, one she had found last night, Zoe had her Ipad out and was reading. Connor and Evan were talking amongst themselves like Michael and Jared. Veronica was going through the playlist on her phone and choosing each song while Jeremy and JD talked quietly. 

“You always wanted to live in California.” Connor said. Evan had been having mini anxiety attacks the entire journey and Connor had dedicated his time to soothing his boyfriend. “We can get a cute little apartment overlooking a forest, all the trees you can handle.” 

“You wanted to live in New York. We should just live there alone.” Evan replied. 

“Or, we can live with people in Cali. Who knows, I might even get a tan.” Connor said causing Evan to loosen up and smile. “There’s the smile I love.”

Evan then fake pouted, Connor laughed, “turn that frown upside down.” He said before bending down and kissing his pouty lips. Laughing, Evan swatted at Connor who was know trying to kiss Evan where ever he could. 

“Is Heather still asleep?” Veronica asked. 

“Yeah.” Duke replied. “I’ve never seen her sleep in like this unless we went to a party the night before.” 

“Maybe she stayed awake last night to wait for you?” Veronica said. 

Duke shrugged, “she was asleep when I got back.” She poked Heather in her shoulder. She didn’t even move. “Weird.”

“I win!” Brooke cheered. “That’s six to me, five to you.”

“Best of fifteen?” Chloe asked.

“Let’s go.” Brooke grinned. 

Zoe spoke from the back of the car, “Veronica, can you put on that song I like? I forgot the name.” 

“This one?” Veronica called back as she clicked on a song. Zoe agreed and Veronica let the song play. It was a favourite of most people in the car so it made the ride a bit more pleasant for a few minutes.  

~~

They had stopped for lunch when they realised something was wrong. 

They had agreed to stop for meals instead of eating on the road since they would want some time to stretch their legs and not be cramped. The few hours extra wasn’t enough for them to care. Everyone was walking around, the guys had a running race which JD won, and then they decided to do a relay race. Girls vs Boys. 

There were 6 boys and 5 girls, since Heather was still asleep, so Evan decided to be the judge. They had parked right next to a park so the course was around the outside of the field. Everyone ran of the their places and Evan whistled loudly. 

It was a nice moment, even Duke enjoyed herself. In the end the girls won which meant the guys cooked. Once lunch was ready, ramen noodles, Duke went to get McNamara. Even after shaking the girl repeatedly she wouldn’t wake up.

The idea that she wouldn’t wake up hadn’t crossed her mind until this moment. 

Duke yelled for Veronica who came instantly. They pulled her out of the car and carried her over to the others. JD and Connor both tried to find a pulse but couldn’t. Heather was lying on the dirty floor, looking paler than she had ever been. Duke started sobbing, Veronica wasn’t any better. 

Connor, Evan, Jared and Jeremy went off with two shovels and started digging a grave for her. It wasn’t easy, especially since they kept having to wipe tear from their eyes. They had buried to many friends. 

Veronica and Duke just sat beside their friend silently. 

“Poor Heather.” Heather whispered. “The last thing we did was fight.” She let out a bitter chuckle, “representing our friendship real good.”

“Heather knew you loved her.”

Duke looked at Veronica with tears in her eyes. “Is that enough?”

~~ 

Heather’s burial was quick and simple. Duke and Veronica both said a few words about her, but it was over within five minutes. Afterwards Duke sat by the grave while everyone else packed up and got ready to leave again. 

Again, they made a small cross with Heather’s name across it. Veronica wrapped Heather’s favourite scarf around the cross. It was a pastel yellow and had her initials embroidered on the end. 

It felt so impersonal. Like a ceremony for someone unknown. 

Veronica couldn’t help feel that she owed her friend more than this. A quick burial in a rundown field in an abandoned town in the middle of nowhere. Heather deserved a celebration, a mega-party that showcased her life, but all she got was a silent speech. She glared at the mound. This wasn’t what Heather wanted. 

_ Kurt, Ram and JD had gone into the supermarket only a few moments before Heather McNamara spoke up. “This whole thing, I hate it.” _

_ “What do you mean?” Veronica asked.  _

_ “It’s so scary.” She paused and took a deep breath. “For a long time, before all this started, I didn’t want to be alive anymore. I-I almost took my own life so many times, I just wanted the pressure to be over. Do you know what I mean?” _

_ Both Heathers and Veronica didn’t move for a moment. Shook had crashed over them at the revelation. Slowly, all three girls nodded.  _

_ She continued, “I had pills in my mouth once, ready to swallow.” She let out a bitter laugh, “I couldn’t stop the voices in my head, yelling at me. Telling me to just, just end it. All of it. Then Veronica walked in. I spat the pills back out. I didn’t want anyone to know what I was feeling.” She took a few shallow breaths, holding back tears, “I thought, I thought that if you knew, if you knew what I was doing, you’d kick me out. Make me an outcast.” _

_ Heather Chandler wanted to argue, say she wouldn’t have done that, when she paused. She would have. That was the horrible truth. To save her image she would have kicked her friends out of her life and she knew Duke would have done the same.  _

_ “I thought that I could ignore the voices.” Heather continued, “I was so stupid.”  _

_ “You’re not stupid.” Chandler replied, taking Heather’s hand. “If this, all this shit, has taught me anything, it’s that life is precious and we should make ours the best we can. You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for.”  _

_ Duke nodded slowly, “Heather’s right, Heather.” _

_ “I had a note written out.” Heather laughed, this time with light humour, tears still streamed down her face, “with directions on how to make my funeral exciting. I wanted this bomb-ass playlist, an after party with more vodka than ten other parties combined, and you three arriving in limos with yellow ribbons. It was so extra.”  _

_ Kurt and Ram came out of the building, followed by JD. Heather McNamara (and Duke though she wouldn’t admit it) wiped at her eyes to get rid of the tears. The boys got in the car, each had a few bags in hand, and took in the scene.  _

_ “Why are you crying?” Kurt asked.  _

_ Not hesitating, Heather Chandler said, “we’re on our periods.” _

_ The boys groaned and let the subject drop, muttering about girls and how gross they are. JD didn’t react to the comment and just started driving.  _

_ Chandler didn’t let go of McNamara’s hand the entire journey.  _

A few minutes later and the group were on there way out of that tiny town. 


	10. This lake is amazing

“How you feeling?” Zoe asked, sitting beside her brother. He had walked away from everyone else to sit on a bench overlooking a lake, it was a beautiful scene, the sun was just setting and it reflected pink tinted light over the glistening water. 

He looked at over at, really looked at her. They had never been close, which, looking back, was so stupid. His biggest regret was not having a good relationship with his parents, something he could never change now. “I’m good, you?”

“Honestly, I hate everything.”

“Welcome to my world.” Connor joked, then a frown fell on his face. Zoe was important to him, and he knew how she was feeling, and he knew no one should feel that way. 

She rolled her eyes at him, “it’s scary. Every night I lay in bed and freak out that I’m not going to wake up.”

“Same, it terrifies me. You and Evan would be helpless without me.”

“Ha. Ha.” 

“It’s true.” 

“Hardly.” 

Connor sighed and lent forward on his legs. “This lake is amazing. Evan is always going on about nature and how amazing it is, he loves it, and I never really got it.”

“But you do know now kind of thing? Besides, he’s right, this view is amazing. Mom would have loved it.” 

“She would have. And, no, he’s still crazy.” Connor closed his eyes, “he used nature, he uses nature, as an escape from people, from his problems. Whenever we fought I’d know exactly where to go to find him, this one tree he said was good for climbing since you could get so high so easily. He’d rather be up a tree than with someone.”

“Apart from you.”

He looked at her and nodded, tears were in his eyes, “yeah.” He took a deep breath. “The thought of either of you being alone freaks me out.”

“You don’t have to look out for us, you need to look after yourself. Besides, we all have each other’s backs.” 

JD yelled over at them to hurry up since they were leaving the area. They had stopped in this small clearing for dinner before they would continue to California. 

“Connor?” Zoe said softly, “I don’t feel good.”

“Like sick?”

She looked confused for a moment before her face cleared and she shrugged, “weird, I’m good. Just a stomach cramp or something.”

The both of them walked back over to the group. Heather and Veronica sat off to one side, they had only lost Heather a few hours ago, of course they would still be grieving. Both girls had tied a yellow ribbon around their wrists. All Connor could think was ‘what’s with them and these colours?’

They were packing up the car, well, JD and Jermey were, everyone else was standing watching. It wouldn’t take them long. 

“Hey, Zoe?” Jared said. 

“What?” 

He grinned at her, “knock knock.” 

She sighed and opened her mouth to respond when her eyes rolled back into her head. She collapsed backwards, Connor reached out and grabbed her just in time and lay her on the ground gently. Everyone else was crowded around them, watching. 

“Zoe.” Connor muttered, shaking her slightly. “Zoe!” When she didn’t respond his shaking got harder and his voice got louder. Tears were streaming down his face as he begged her to wake up. “ZOE!” 

The sun set as Connor finally stopped sobbing over her. The rest of them had moved so they sitting beside the car, giving them their space, and waiting for Connor to be done. However long it took. 

Death wasn't kind. Connor, he knew that. It snatched where it could, taking people who were far too young, far too good, just like Zoe. It didn't pretend to care. Death had hung over the world for a long time, especially now, after all that had happened, always threatening. It had, however, never touched Connor quite so close. Death had ripped away a part of him. 

A cold wind blew through the clearing. 

Connor stood, everyone followed his lead, he got the spade and by himself started digging a grave overlooking the lake. At least it was peaceful here.

The others ignored him, let him be alone, aside from when Evan had bought over a lamp so he could keep digging. Connor hadn’t acknowledged him, Evan didn’t think he had even noticed. 

Brooke and Chloe made the cross. It was slow going since they kept having to wipe tears from their eyes. Zoe had been a close friend to them since they meet up all those months ago. They carved her name into the wood and stared at it for a long time. Just blankly stared at it. 

“We’ve lost to many people.” Veronica muttered. “So many good people.” JD pulled her in for a hug. 

Once the grave was finished Connor walked back over to them slowly. His eyes were red and his cheeks wet. He stood beside Evan who gripped his hand tightly. Connor spoke but was only looking down at his boyfriend as he spoke, “we should bury her.” 

Evan nodded at him and together they bought Zoe to the grave and lowered her in. They stood around it, Connor beside the cross. 

He smiled down at her, now covered in one of the sheets they carried around, “when we were younger, my mom, whenever we used to fight, would make us recite these stupid poems to each other. I can remember each one so clearly, ‘Every morning as I wake up I think of you, as the hero that came into my life. More and more you appeared to me when I was in strife. Afraid I could not live without you in my life. I only prayed every day and every night. to have a brother like you by my side. When I was hurt so many times. You never let me down. Therefore I am proud to call you a true brother.’ She found it in a book about an adopted brother, she felt so proud whenever she said it, as if she was telling mom to F-off. 

I don’t remember where I found mine, but it’s just as bad. A sister is someone who loves you from the heart, no matter how much you argue you cannot be drawn apart. She is a joy that cannot be taken away. Once she enters your life, she is there to stay. With a sister you cannot have a grudge, she is as sweet as chocolate and as smooth as fudge. Having a sister is not just a trend, it is knowing you can always turn to her, your best friend.’.”

He took in a deep breath and wiped the tears from his face.

“Those stupid poems would always work, that’s the annoying thing. Mom was right. Then, after we’d finished fighting we’d go off and complain about mom together. Later on in life, the poems stopped working, and then we stopped saying them. We stopped trying although. That’s my biggest mistake, my biggest regret, I never had a good relationship with her.”

He looked at the ground and then out to the lake. 

“At least she doesn’t have to worry about going to sleep anymore.”

~~

Chloe and Brooke were sitting side by side on the dusty bed silently. Aside from Connor and Evan, the two of them were the most affected by Zoe’s death. 

JD had decided to stop at a run down motel on the side of the road a few minutes after they had left. They needed a decent night’s sleep. The motel was empty of bodies, luckily, and even had a vending machine full of candy that they had raided. 

Heather and Veronica went into a room alone, Connor and Evan disappeared into their own room. JD, Jeremy and Michael went into their own room, JD didn’t want to disrupt the girls so went with the boys. Jared was in with Brooke and Chloe but had disappeared to the bathroom instantly.

The fact that death could happen when ever, even when you were awake, shocked them all. They thought they were safe when they were awake. 

“I don’t even know how to feel.” Brooke said, tears had stopped flowing and were now dried to her cheeks. 

“Neither.” Chloe whispered. 

“I hope Connor is gonna be okay.”

Chloe nodded, “he has Evan. They’ll be okay.”

Silence incased the room again. Both girls were lost in their own thoughts. Zoe had been close to them, after they meet her they became friends. Brooke especially, she and Zoe got along really well. 

A sob broke the silence, the girls looked at each other and then to the bathroom door where Jared was. His sob started a chain reaction, both girls started crying again. 

Chloe wrapped her arms around Brooke and held her close as the two of them wept. In one day they had lost two people. Chloe started rocking the two of them softly and pretty soon they were both fast asleep. 

~~

“Heather must of died like Zoe.” Heather said. Her and Veronica were sitting on a sofa in their room, they had been quiet for a long time, probably about an hour, when Heather spoke. 

“That’s what I think.”

“Makes a lot more sense than being poisoned by soup.”

Veronica managed a weak laugh. “Yeah, it does.”

“So what now?”

“We keep going to California. We find these new people, and we live our best life.” Veronica replied steadily. “No matter what.” 

Duke smiled slightly at her, “no matter what.” 

~~ 

“I want to be with her.”

 

“Connor, don’t do anything rash. She wouldn’t have wanted that.” 

Evan looked over at him. This was not a good place for a somewhat suicidal person to be. The attempt at shaken both of them up, as well as Zoe, and they had made him promise not to hurt himself anymore, but this couldn’t be helping his mental state. 

“I know. I’m not going to.” He sighed deeply, “this whole world has gone to shit, Evan, but I don’t want to leave you behind alone. Plus, I know that if I did kill myself Zoe would be pissed as fuck. Just promise me you won’t leave me?”

“Of course, I promise that I’ll never leave you.”

~~

The group had gone back to the clearing over the lake the next morning. Connor didn’t want to be there but he understood why they needed to go back. It was for the best. 

Jeremy and JD had dug the grave next to Zoe, while Veronica made yet another cross. The other girls sat watching with saddened expressions. Connor just stood and started over the lake, at least he got to be with Zoe one last time. 

They had awoken that morning to screams echoing across the motel, it was coming from Chloe’s room so they all ran that way room. By the time they had gotten there Jared was already outside with a struggling Brooke in his arms. 

Nobody needed to go into the room to know what happened. 

Now they were all standing together watching Jared and Michael lower her body into the grave while Brooke placed the cross beside her head. The sun was shining over them, golden rays reflected of the perfectly still lake, yet no one could muster up any happiness at the wonderful weather. Brooke looked up and cursed internally, the sky should be dark and rainy, miserable like she was. 

“Chloe and I have been friends since forever. She has always been there when I needed her and will miss her more than anything. It isn’t possible to put into words the importance of friendship and how much Chloe meant to me. She positively influenced my life in so many ways and I will miss her with all of my heart.” Brooke muttered her mini speech, as if she was speaking only to Chloe, ignoring everyone else. She started sobbing and struggled to get her last sentence out. “Thank you for your friendship, I will miss you forever and never forget all of the time we spent together.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TaDa


	11. “What’s wrong?” Veronica asked

It had started snowing again. 

The weather had gone crazy since everyone had died. No one could figure out why it was happening, it just was. But, as they drove towards California, it started snowing. 

“Really?” Veronica muttered when she saw what was happening. “Snow this far south?” 

JD muttered an agreement and tried to keep driving through the snow that started falling faster and faster. With in a few minutes they couldn’t see out of the windows it was snowing so heavily. 

“Should we stop driving and just wait it out?” Jared asked, looking out the window uneasily. 

“Last time we did that we got stuck in the car, we got trapped for three days with a dead body.” Heather replied, also looking out the window with a worried expression on her face. 

“I can’t see where I’m going now.” JD said. “I think Jared might be right.”

The car stopped then. 

“Stopping isn’t a good idea.” Heather snapped. 

“I didn’t.” JD argued then he sighed heavily, “we’re out of gas.”

Everyone started talking at once, panicking about the situation they were in. Veronica was trying to figure out a way to solve the problem at hand but couldn’t concentrate with all the noise going on in the back of the car. She turned around to tell them to shut up when she stopped. 

Brooke was sitting in the middle bench by the window staring out, she hadn’t spoken all day, Heather sat beside her and again she wasn’t speaking. Evan and Connor sat next to them, they were talking, trying to figure it out. The back row was the loudest, Jared, Jeremy and Michael were all basically yelling at each other. 

“Guys!” Veronica shouted. “Calm down, we’re going to be fine.”

“How?” Jared said back, “we’re stuck in the middle of nowhere.”

“We’re just going to have to find some gas.”

They all looked at her like she was crazy, “find some gas?” Connor repeated, “sounds easy.” 

“There will be a gas station or a car we can take some gas from somewhere.” JD replied. 

A long howl of wind echoed around them, bringing with it a freezing cold blast that made everyone shake. 

“And we should go out now?” Heather asked. 

“I guess we’re just going to have to wait for the weather to die down.” JD replied. “Time to pass out the coats.”

It took a few minutes for everyone to have suitable clothing, jackets and blankets with leggings or pants and boots. The car was already a lot colder than before. After a few moments Jared handed everyone a pair of gloves as well. 

Night fell and the weather hadn’t changed so they decided to sleep and hope it was warmer when they woke up. 

The car was so cold now, they could feel it through their coats and blankets. Jeremy started searching through the trunk of the car, trying to find something else to warm them. 

Micheal called to Veronica, “want to make some hot chocolate up there?” 

Everyone concluded that was a terrible idea and that she should do it. They passed Veronica and JD the camping cooker they had stolen and the ingredients needed. It was slow going, she could only make a cup at a time, but the entire car felt a bit warmer thanks to the small fire. The cups that were passed around warmed everyone up as well and suddenly the mood was a lot lighter. 

Jeremy also managed to find another blanket which he and Micheal used, cuddled up together under it. 

The hot chocolate worked, seeing as the majority of the people fell asleep after they drank theirs. Veronica volunteered to stay awake so she could keep the camping stove on for a little while since it cut the chill a tiny bit. Soon everyone but Veronica, Micheal and Jeremy were asleep. 

“How you doing?” Jeremy asked softly.

“Like, I want to die, but what’s new?”

They both chuckled, “true.” Jeremy said, “but seriously, how are you?”

“I’m fine. You?”

“I’ve been better honestly.”

“Chloe was your friend way more than mine.” Michael said, “makes sense you would be sad.” 

He shrugged. “We’re not that good friends. Still sucks.”

“Still sucks.” Michael agreed. “If you want to talk about anything, I’m here.”

“I miss my x-box.” 

Micheal laughed, “true.”

“But, same. I’m here as well.”

“I can tell.” Micheal replied, motioning to the very little space between them. 

“It’s cold.” 

Shrugging, Micheal pulled him closer, “didn’t say I cared.” 

~~

The next morning had clear skies and not a snowflake to be seen. 

“Guess we should head out.” Veronica said, “should we split up so we can cover more ground? Each head a different way?”

“I think so.” JD agreed, “pairs?”

Veronica nodded and everyone agranged themselves into pairs. JD and Veronica, Connor and Evan, and Micheal and Jeremy. They only had three gas canisters in the trunk so Jared volunteered to stay at the car with Heather and Brooke, who hadn’t moved since she woke up.

They were going to go three different ways and hope to find something they could use, each pair also had a backpack, so they could fill it up with any food or other supplies they found. 

“Be back at the car by sunset.” Veronica said as they all set off. 

JD and Veronica were walking hand and hand down the road, he was holding the canister while she tried to spot something in the distance. They had been walking for about an hour in peaceful silence when Veronica spoke, “how are you?”

“I’m fine. It’s you I’m worried about.” JD said, “you’ve lost so many people.”

“So have you.”

He shrugged, “not really. They weren’t really my friends.”

“Don’t lie. You were sad.”

“Sure, but they were more yours than mine. I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

She was going to answer him, but then she just sighed and rested her head against his shoulder as they walked. “I don’t know anymore. I feel horrible but I don’t care anymore. When someone dies, it’s not a thing I think about. How fucked is that?”

“You can’t care or you don’t care?”

“What?”

“Is is that you don’t care, or you can’t care?” JD explained, “I think it’s that you can’t care anymore or you’ll end up sitting in the car in silence like Brooke.”

Tears welled in Veronica’s eyes. JD felt bad instantly and stopped walking to pull her into a big hug. They stood there, in the middle of nowhere, surrounded only by dead corn and broken tractors, but in that moment all they cared about was each other.

~~

Connor and Evan were walking down the highway, Connor had asked Evan a question about the plant life around them, he didn’t really care but he needed to get his mind off everything, Evan seemed to understand as well seeing as he hadn’t stopped talking for a long time.

“Are you okay?” Evan said after explaining in great detail how the pine tree came to be. 

“Not really.”

Evan gripped Connor’s hand in his, “you can talk to me.”

“I feel like a failure.” 

“Why?”

“I couldn’t help her. She trusted me to help her and I let her down. When this all started, and we started talking again, I promised myself I wouldn’t let us go back to how we were. I was going to get us to a good place again and yet, she died and I got to live.”

He started sobbing, loud and heartbreaking sobs, Evan pulled him into a hug. “Don’t think like that. Zoe wouldn’t want you to.”

“I can’t help it. She shouldn’t have been taken away.” 

“She loved you, so much, don’t doubt that. She would hate to know that you feel like this.”

“If she was here I wouldn’t have told her how I felt.” 

Evan smiled sadly at him, “I know, you keep it all bottled up. You shouldn’t. We care about you.”

“Do you think she was happy, before she died. Even though we had all this shit, do you think she was happy?” Connor whispered, “do you think her last few days were okay?”

“Zoe loved you so much and I know she was happy, because she had you again.”

Connor pulled away from Evan, after giving him a long and hard kiss, before the two of them walked again, and only a few minutes later they found a gas station filled with gas. 

~~

“If you liked someone, what would you do?” Jeremy asked as they walked back to the car. The sun was nearly set and they had only managed to find a small amount of gas and some cereal bars. 

Micheal looked over at Jeremy, “what do you mean?” 

“If you liked someone, how would you go about fixing it?”

“Fixing it? Is it a problem?”

Jeremy nodded, “I think so.”

“You’ll be fine.” He said, frowning at the road. “Why do you ask?”

“I wanted to fix it. I don’t like feeling like this.” Jeremy admitted. “I don’t know what to do.”

Michael smiled at him, “you’ll be fine.” He repeated. 

Jeremy smiled back.

~~ 

Brooke was sitting in the car silently. Jared was pacing back and forth across the road, looking desperately for the others to return.

Finally, finally, the others, all of them, turned up on the horizon. Casting one look back at Brooke he sprinted towards them.

“What’s wrong?” Veronica asked when he got to them.

He grimaced and said: “it’s Heather.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shameless self-promo
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	12. It was the best night in a long time for the both of them.

“Veronica? Do you want something to eat?” JD asked softly. 

She shook her head. 

“You can’t sit here silently forever, darling, come out and eat.”

She shook her head.

“Are you sure?” 

She didn’t answer him. He sighed but left her in the car. 

“How is she?” Evan asked when he walked back over to the group. 

“Not good.” JD said. “She won’t leave the car.” Veronica had been sitting in the same spot in the car since they had returned the night before to find Heather lying on the road with a sheet over her. She didn’t even leave when they buried her beside the car. She just sat there sobbing. JD didn’t know what to do, he couldn’t help her right now. 

They all smiled at him sadly. “She’ll be okay.” Brooke said softly. She still wasn’t talking much, and no one could blame her, or Veronica. They had lost all of their friends so quickly. Anyone would be grieving. 

“Thanks, Brooke.” JD replied. 

“Give her a few days.” Jeremy said, “she’s strong.”

“She is.” JD agreed. 

He sat down on the tarmac beside the others and picked up his lunch, a snack pack of nuts, food was so sparse now, it was uncommon to find unspoiled food, and it was rapidly becoming a problem; if they lived long enough. 

“Was she asleep?” Evan asked suddenly.

“Pardon?” Jared replied, blinking at Evan. 

“Heather, was she asleep?”

Jared nodded slowly, “she wanted to have a nap.”

“Zoe’s the only one who wasn’t asleep, right?”

“Veronica thinks Heather Chandler died like Zoe, while she awake.” JD shook his head, “but we don’t know for sure, we weren’t there.”

“Why?” Connor asked. 

Evan took a moment to answer, “are we safe when we’re sleeping? Was it just Zoe or could it be anyone?”

“If Heather Chandler did die like Zoe then it could be anyone, but if not, it could just be Zoe and the rest of us won’t.” 

Everyone thought it but no one wanted to say it, ‘we’ll have to wait and see’.

~~

“We’re close.” Connor said, “probably only a day or a day and a half away.”

“Where is it?” Jared asked, “did it say?”

He nodded, “yeah.” Connor looked over his map again, “it’s there.” He pointed to a spot, “and we’re here.”

“So, we’ll be there soon, and there are more people?” Evan asked, clinging to Connor’s arm.

JD nodded from the front seat, “they have an active Twitter account, and I think there is about twelve people. This guy called Alexander runs the account, and he tweets what’s happening. Some girl, Eliza I think, has a garden and stuff. We’ll be safe.”

Veronica scoffed from the front seat. “Safe.”

“We won’t have to worry about food anymore, that’s what I meant.” JD said. 

She went back to being silent. 

“Should we stop for the night?” Jeremy asked, pointing up head at a small town on the side of the highway. “We need to find more gas if we want to make it through.” 

“He’s right.” JD agreed, they all decided to stop for the night, either find a house to break into or a motel. They were in luck, there was a small bed & breakfast on the main road with a gas station just down the road. 

Everyone but JD and Veronica got out of the car, to go and find rooms, while the two of them stayed to go and get gas and food. 

“Are you okay?”

“No.”

“Fair enough.”

“I’ve lost everyone.” 

He smiled sadly at her, “I’m here, I won’t leave you.” 

“Good. I don’t think I could cope without you.” She admitted. “I thought, after Chandler, I thought maybe I could be okay. I had lost my parents and some of my friends, but I thought I would be okay. Then I lost McNamara, and I didn’t know how to feel anymore. I just pretended I was okay. When I saw Duke there, I didn’t know how to feel so I didn’t. I just stopped.”

“It’s okay.” 

“Not really. Brooke needs me right now, and I’m sitting here silently.”

“You don’t need to be there for everyone. You can look after yourself.”

She looked out the window as JD parked up beside the gas pump. “I don’t know how.”

“We’ll help you. Everyone here cares about you.”

“All six of them.”

He put his hand on her shoulder, “yeah, all seven of us, and the people where we’re going.”

“They don’t know me.”

“Yeah, but they’ll love you the moment they meet you.”

“That’s stupid.”

“But true. Don’t worry, darling, we’ll be okay.”

Smiling at her again he climbed out of the car and started filling their different cans up before filling the car. She sat silently as he jogged into the small shop and tried to find some more food. He found something, since he came out with a plastic bag in hand. He also had two slushies. 

When he was in the car he handed her a, slightly melted, slushie with a grin. “Don’t you know? Slushies solve all problems.” 

“Really?”

“Yeah, freeze your brain, darling.”

They drank them on the way back to the motel, and he was right. Veronica did feel slightly better afterwards. JD threw the bag of food on the ground in the empty lobby and the two of them went to their room. 

~~

Jeremy and Micheal were sitting in their room, two single beds, a bedside table between them and about thirty framed drawings of horses across the walls. 

“His name is totally Carmel.”

“You suck at naming horses, his name is Thunder.”

“You can’t just name every horse Thunder, Micheal!” 

“Who’s stopping me.”

Jeremy glared at him and flipped him off quickly. They were sitting on one of the beds, legs stretched out in front of them, and were naming the horses in the room. Micheal grinned and shuffled closer to Jeremy so he wouldn’t fall off the bed. 

They started at each other, really stared at each other, to the point it became slightly awkward, but still, they kept staring. 

Both of them meant so much to the other, and every moment was a threat to them, their relationship could be cut short so quickly. Neither wanted that. They had been best friends for so long. They couldn’t remember a time without the other by his side. 

Still staring at each they both remembered the times they had together. The good and the bad. 

Then, as quickly as they could, both leaned in, and kissed the other. It was messy and chaotic but it perfectly conveyed the emotions they both had. They couldn’t lose each other. Not after all they went through. 

They continued kissing until Connor knocked on the door and called them down for dinner. When they pulled away both were bright red and breathless. 

“Um. Sorry.” Jeremy muttered before standing and making his way to the door

Michael jumped up and snagged the other's arm, turning him around so they were face to face. He smiled, “I’m not.” Then he kissed him, it was soft, sweet and short. Then they made their way down to the lobby.

They felt awkward, standing on the side lines, not really wanting to tell anyone what happened. It wasn’t like they were ashamed or embarrassed, it was more that they didn’t even know what had just happened. 

Once they all had their food they were sitting by one another when Evan spoke up, “so, does anyone else have an unnatural amount of dog photos in their room?

After dinner they all went back up to their rooms, Jeremy and Micheal swapped, they left the horse room into one with a lot of cows, and a double bed. 

It was the best night in a long time for the both of them. 

Until morning came, and Micheal had to leave Jeremy in a grave.


	13. Everyone laughed ... They stopped laughing

“How far away are we?” Evan asked.

Connor hummed as he traced his finger over the map, “about ten hours.”

“So we should be there by tomorrow night?” Jared smiled. “I’m hoping they have hot water.”

“Some fresh vegetable,” Brooke said, “that’d be nice.”

Veronica nodded, her mood had somewhat improved but she still felt empty inside. “A closet to hang my clothes up, I’m tired of messy clothes.”

“Same.” Brooke agreed, “an iron maybe.”

“Some shampoo and a straightener.”

The boys watched in amusement as the girls went back and forth saying what they missed, at least they were happier now. JD’s hand tightened in Veronica's as she continued talking to Brooke. She would be okay, he knew she would be.

Micheal sat in the back seat, by himself, the other six squished into the front five seats to give him some space. He buried Jeremy by himself, no one else knew until they found him sobbing beside the fresh pile of dirt early that morning. He had admitted how much he had loved Jeremy. How they had just, finally, gotten the courage to admit to each other. Then he punched the ground hard enough to make his knuckles bleed and he cursed the universe and everything in it.

No one had seen Micheal so sad.

He had then stalked into the bathroom and locked the door. They could only hear sobs as he sat in there alone. Occasionally he would mumble something but the others left him alone until the car was packed at they were ready to go.

After he left the bathroom he went back to the room with the cow pictures and took all of their things before going to the horse room and taking the god-awful picture of the horse, Carmel/Thunder, whatever it’s name was.

Now he sat in the back of the car, wearing Jeremy’s hoodie and staring at the picture.

JD was driving the car, the sun was already high in the sky, when Veronica spoke quietly to him. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Being there for me.”

“You don’t need to thank me for that.”

She shrugged, “I should. I don’t think I could handle all this without you.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, you could,” JD scoffed, “you’re stronger than you give yourself credit for.”

“I’ve had like seven mental breakdowns today.”

“So you’re doing better than me.”

Letting out a small laugh she looked out the window. “Thank you.”

“I already told you, you don’t need to thank me.”

“I want to.”

He looked over at her and smiled sweetly. “We were meant to be one, darling. I swear, who ever is in charge, whoever made us or whatever, they made us for each other.”

“Poetic.” Veronica laughed, “like it belongs in a song.”

“You two are sickeningly sweet.” Jared said. “It’s disgusting.”

Evan pushed his shoulder very lightly, “don’t be mean. They’re having a moment.”

“I’m just telling the truth.”

Brooke scoffed, “they’re being cute. Leave them alone.”

Veronica smiled at them, “it’s fine. We’re being a gross.” She say Micheal flinch from the back of the car and subtly shook her head when Brooke was going to speak. They all got the message.

“Should we stop for lunch?” JD asked.

“I need to pee.” Jared said, “so yeah.”

“I could with stretching my legs.” Brooke agreed.

He nodded and continued diving to the next town, which was a tiny, tiny town. There were about three building in total, a bar, a hall and a corner store, but it was enough for lunch. He parked the car in the middle of the road and the seven of them got ready to get out.

They weren’t stupid, the weather was still bad, they needed to make sure they were probably clothes before they left the car. The car’s heater didn’t work so even in the car, they needed blankets and coats because it was just so cold. Most of the time they were wearing gloves, hats and scarfs as well, just to be that little bit warmer.

Micheal walked straight into the bar, ignoring everyone else. They decided to follow him in, Jared ran to the corner store to try and find food, when they went in their hearts broke even more.

The bar was nothing fancy, it was old and worn, probably was like that before everyone died. Dust covered every surface and spiders scuttled across the walls but there were comfortable seats and the lights still worked so they all considered the bar a win.

A shot glass was being refilled already by Micheal who was standing behind the bar. He filled it up so it was nearly overflowing before drinking it and grimacing at the taste.

“I fucking hate vodka.” He muttered before filling it up again.

They watched as he took two more shots before Veronica went over to him and took the bottle from his hands. He tried to get it back but just fell into her arms sobbing. She held him as he sobbed into her arms while everyone stood silently.

“God, I loved him so much.”

Veronica didn’t have a response to that.

“Always did. Even after he left me for the populars. God, I still loved him so much.”

“He loved you to,” Brooke said softly.

He looked up from Veronica’s arms, “what?”

“Well, he never said it out loud, but he would always stare at you as you walked past. We all figured it out pretty quickly.”

“Really?” Michael's voice cracked slightly as he spoke, and he stood up. Wiping at his face as he did.

She nodded, “yeah, it’s why he didn’t go out with any of us. He was to hung up on this other guy.”

“That’s nice.” He muttered, falling onto a bar stool and staring out the window.

They all left him be as they prepared lunch. The kitchen had a bag of frozen french fries and a bag of frozen chicken nuggets so JD deep fried them. Apparently the bar had a generator or something like that since there was electricity. All of them charged their phones while they ate.

Veronica and Connor had to excuse themselves at different points while eating, tears already in their eyes as they left, Micheal didn’t say anything but at least he was eating, and at random points throughout the meal, Brooke would stop speaking and stare at her plate.

Even if the meal wasn’t a happy occasion, it was a good meal. Warm food was something to be cherished now. A simple bar-styled meal of chicken and chips felt like a gourmet feast to them all. It was surprising how much better they all felt after their meal.

Veronica finished eating first and suggested she make hot chocolate for everyone to take with them, so they could hopefully keep a little bit warmer. No one disagreed with her.

After they had eaten they got back in the car and headed towards California.

~~

“That’s a horrible song!” Veronica joked as Micheal played his Bob Marley over the AUX cord.

“It’s better than your pop shit.”

“Big fun is a great band,” Brooke protested.

The car echoed with laughter as everyone argued over the better music genre. Michael had stopped staring out the window and started actually talking again, after he sobered up a little, but it had started a chain reaction. Everyone was smiling and laughing now.

“Hardly,” Connor rolled his eyes.

“Connor likes depressing music,” Evan explained.

“It’s not depressing music, it’s thoughtful.”

Evan turned around to look at everyone from the front seat and shook his head. Then he mouthed ‘depressing’.

“I can see you,” Connor muttered causing everyone to laugh again.

“Good.”

The two of them smiled at each other before Connor took Evan’s hand and held it in between them. Veronica and Brooke started chattering about random things, wanted they hoped the new place had and in Brooke’s case, who the new place had. JD watched them speak, muttering how strange girls are while Micheal and Jared discussed what video games they had played (Micheal was apparently much better than Jared but he didn’t seem to mind).

Driving to California had become peaceful. The road was empty and open, they had their hot chocolate which had kept them warm, their lunch had been fulfilling and they were nearly there. Everything was becoming okay again.

Veronica and JD fell asleep soon after they stopped talking, two blankets pulled up around them and the still slightly warm thermoses pressed in between them. Anything to keep them warm. JD had taken his seat belt off so he could press closer to Veronica.

It had started snowing shortly after they had started driving. It wasn’t to bad, just a light dusting, but it was still annoying since it made the air that little bit colder.

Soon after Veronica and JD were asleep, Brooke was as well. Resting her head on Michael’s shoulder with her blanket pulled up around her neck and a scarf and hat covering basically her entire face.

“I really hope they have a heater there,” Jared muttered. “It’s so cold.”

“Just another blanket would be good right now.” Michael agreed, rubbing his gloved hands together.

“I’d settle for being lit on fire.” Jared replied, causing them both to laugh. Both Evan and Connor replied with, ‘same.’

As Connor was driving he hit some ice and the car skidded across the highway. Everyone got thrown around as he tried to straighten up the car. For a moment he almost dipped the car into a ditch on the side of the road. Once he had gotten the car under control everyone breathed out a sigh of relief.

“So, the roads are really icy.” Connor said.

The three of them looked at him with wide eyes, “really?” They all replied in unison.

“Yeah.”

“I had no idea.” Jared muttered, “I thought you did that on purpose.”

“Veronica, Brooke and JD slept through it though.” Evan said, “that’s impressive.”

Jared nodded while rubbing his head, “I hit my head on the window,” he complained, “ow.”

Micheal laughed softly as he rubbed his wrist. “Same.”

“Honestly, you should be more careful when you drive,” Evan teased.

“Ha. Ha.”

“Don’t ha ha me.” Evan said to Connor, pointing his finger at his face. “It’s rude.”

“You’re so funny.”

Evan grinned, “I know.”

“I was being sarcastic.”

“You still said it. Doesn’t matter how.”

Jared groaned, “I swear, they’ve been like this since before all this happened. Do you know how annoying they are?”

“We’re not annoying,” Evan muttered.

“Dude, yes, you are.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

Brooke grunted, “shut the fuck up.” She sat up Michael’s shoulder, apologised, and then looked around the car for a moment. “I had a dream that we had a car crash. I swear, I felt myself being flung into the sky on something.”

“We had a close call,” Micheal replied. “The car skidded on some ice.”

She nodded, and muttered “oh” before resting her head back on his shoulder. “Damn I’m tired. I just want to sleep in a nice bed that isn’t in a dust filled motel.”

“That’s where we’re going,” Connor said.

“Can’t wait,” she replied before going back to sleep. With in a few minutes, Micheal was asleep as well.

Jared looked rather put out as the two of them rested on each other, he had to lean on the door to get away from them. “Evan, since everyone is asleep can I have another hot chocolate.”

“Sure.”

Evan passed Jared one the extra themoses, Veronica had made nine, since they had that many thermoses, with the intention of sharing it or something. To late now, since Jared had one and Connor and Evan were sharing the other.

They were luke warm but it was better than the icy air that surrounded them. Jared gripped the cup tightly, trying to bring feeling back into his hands. “Is it just me, or is it getting colder?” He asked.

“I think you’re right,” Evan said.

“Which sucks,” Connor continued. “We don’t need it to be colder.”

“We should light a fire.”

“In the car?” Evan asked looking back at Jared.

He nodded, “why not?”

“Sometimes, you make me want to crash the car into a tree,” Connor muttered, “you’re so annoying.”

“Yeah, but you love me.”

“I really don’t.”

“Oh well, I’m Evan’s bestie so you have to tolerate me.”

Connor looked at him in the rear view mirror with his eyebrows raised and a small smirk on his mouth, “really? I seem to remember you denying you two were friends for a long time.”

“That’s in the past.”

“Evan?”

“Yeah?”

“What do you think of Jared’s statement,” Connor asked as he drove onto a small 1-lane bridge. These things always gave him anxiety and this one was so long.

He shrugged, playing cool, “I don’t give a damn.”

Jared let out a bark of laughter, loud enough to make Brooke stir next to him, “dude, you give so many dams they can be seen from space.”

Then Evan went to flip him off but accidentally knocked the radio so it starting blasting music, causing everyone else to wake up with a start. “Sorry!” Evan shouted as he turned it down.

Everyone laughed when they realized what had happened. Evan looked embarrassed so Brooke patted his shoulder and told him it was fine. He smiled back at her softly in thanks.

They stopped laughing when Connor collapsed against the steering wheel and the car went flying off the bridge they were on.


	14. They stood and waited silently

Michael had a dream.

He was sitting the bathroom of Rich’s house, he couldn’t breathe and he couldn’t see through the tears. He was alone. He grasped at his chest as he felt it close in. His heart was going so fast.

Then, Jeremy was standing in front of him.

“What’s wrong?” He asked softly, resting his hand on Michael's cheek.

“You left me.”

“I didn’t want to. Not after I just got you.”

The tears stopped flowing and he could breathe. They weren’t in the bathroom anymore, they were in Jeremy’s basement. Sitting on a bean bag together with a game on the tv ready. Bottles of mountain dew and packets of fast food sat around them. It was so familiar.

“You came back,” Michael said after a while.

“I’ll always be there for you.”

“Not anymore.”

Jeremy shrugged, “up to you what happens next.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you can stay here or you can go back.”

“Why would I go back?”

Again, he shrugged, “live your life, I suppose, who knows how long you have left?”

“You do, don’t you. You know.”

“Yeah.”

“Is it worth it?”

“I can’t tell you what to do. It’s up to you what happens next.”

Michael started and Jeremy who was smiling softly at him, like he knew what was going to happen next. Michael looked down at his hands, they were turning to dust, then his arms.

Jeremy nodded with a sad smile, “good choice,” he picked up the controller of the game and turned it on before pausing it, “I’ll keep it ready for you.”

“Jeremy?” Michael whimpered.

“You made your decision. I’ll see you later,” Jeremy grinned at him and patted his shoulder, “I love you.” Then everything went fuzzy around the edges before fading to black.

~~

When Michael woke up he was sitting in the car.

Just like normal. He was sitting in his seat. But then he noticed there was blood covering his hands, and Evan was sobbing, and Brooke wasn’t lying on him anymore but sitting on the pavement silently, and Jared was lying on the ground with blood streaming out of his leg, and Veronica was hovering over JD on the road.

He groaned and stepped out of the car. Brooke and Jared both breathed out in relief, she handed him a water bottle and a towel. Then they went back to being basically statues on the road. Although it was hard to see since it was so dark out, the moon was glistening in the sky and causing shadows to appear in the darkness.

“What happened?” He croaked out.

Evan answered him, his arm was in a makeshift sling that was drenched in blood, “Connor, he, he died.” Evan couldn’t finish the sentence, he just shrunk back on himself and started sobbing again.

Jared continued speaking. “Connor didn’t make it, we crashed over the bridge.”

Veronica started crying loudly.

“JD wasn’t wearing his seatbelt,” Jared continued. “He didn’t make it.”

“We messaged the place we were going to,” Brooke explained, “they’re coming to get us now.”

They sat there, on the side of the road for a long time, not speaking or moving, they just sat.

Veronica didn't think she would ever move again. She was so numb. She couldn't even move a finger, even if she wanted to, it wouldn't have happened as she sat on the frozen tarmac. She had lost everyone, everything. JD was supposed to be someone she could rely on, someone who stayed by her side, someone who would always be there for her. But he was gone, like Martha, and Heather, Heather and Heather, and her parents, and Kurt and Ram. Everyone she had ever liked, ever loved, had died. JD was her everything and now he was lying on the frozen ground.

A sound of a car alerted them that they were there, no one moved past moving their head towards the sound, a white van was driving towards them. Two people were in the front, a pretty girl in a blue top and a boy wearing some sort of formal coat.

Finally, they stood. Michael, Evan, Jared, Brooke, and Veronica. They stood and waited silently.

The car stopped just beside them as the sun started rising over the horizon. They had made it through the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're done...
> 
> Thank you to everyone who stuck around and I'm sorry I killed so many people {but I'm not actually}.
> 
> I love you all and I hope you wake up tomorrow...


End file.
